Enill to sign PSC for marine block today
PORT SPAIN
Trinidad & Tobago Express
Petroleumworldtt.com
12 31 08
Energy Minister Conrad Enill is today scheduled to sign a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for a 98,669.383 hectare offshore marine block that had been put out for bid three years ago.
The PSC for the Block North Coast Marine Area (NCMA) has been awarded to a joint venture between ONGC Mittal Energy (OMEL) Ltd and the local State-owned Petrotrin.
OMEL is a joint venture between the India-based Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Mittal Investment Sarl-the investment holding arm of global steel giant Mittal Steel, which operates a steel plant in Point Lisas.
Enill and senior OMEL executives are scheduled to sign the PSC today in a ceremony at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Port of Spain at a time when global oil and natural gas prices are continuing to fall.
The Express reported yesterday that Enill said this country "has not done too badly" in the face of the falling oil and gas prices, particularly because Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) prices have experienced less volatility that those for oil.
The NCMA block is one of 11 offshore marine blocks that had originally been offered by the Government for oil and gas exploration to interested companies in a competitive bid round in 2005.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Energy Ministry said OMEL and Petrotrin had been awarded the NCMA 2 block, "which is located in the West Tobago basin, north of the British Gas of Trinidad and Tobago operated NCMA 1 field in water depths of 50-100 (feet), following the conclusion of successful negotiations with the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago".
On December 17, the Business Express reported that after three years, only two of the six PSCs that resulted from the 2009 bid round had been signed. It also reported that Energy Ministry resource management director Helena Innis King told those attending the IBC energy conference on December 10 that four of the PSCs were with the Attorney General's Office and were vetted a week earlier.
During the South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce and The Geological Society of Trinidad and Tobago's Petroleum Conference 2008 in February, Enill then said "bid rounds have been scheduled for shallow blocks in North Coast Marine Area and South East Coast Area in late 2008 and for the Deep Atlantic in 2009".
Story by Juhel Browne from Trinidad & Tobago Express
-jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com
Trinidad & Tobago Express
Tuesday, December 30th 2008
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