Robert
Fryar:
T&T
energy future bright
PW
/ E.Ohep
Robert
Fryar , bpTT
vice president Operations Performance Unit
Trinidad
Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
07 01 07
TRINIDAD AND Tobago's energy future is bright,
says bpTT vice president Operations Performance
Unit, Robert Fryar.
The statement was made even after the energy giant
spent US$80 million to drill its well, Ibis Deep,
only to find no commercial accumulation of hydrocarbons.
"There are other areas where we think we
can find new proven reserves of gas. We have an
inventory of prospects identified for drilling
and how we do it at bpTT is that we look at five
or six prospects simultaneously and put them through
what we call our exploration hopper, out of which
we select the best candidate for drilling," Fryar
said.
Fryar was one of the speakers at one of the leading
energy events for the year, GazChem 2007, which
took place at the Hilton, Port of Spain last week.
Their (bpTT's) plan he highlighted is to drill
one exploration well a year, starting in 2008,
for the next decade.
"One well a year demonstrates our commitment
to finding new gas to sustain what is already a
world-class business. According to the way in which
we classify reserves, if we make discoveries with
our on-going exploration programme, these will
be reserves that are immediately recoverable on
a commercial basis," he added.
In
fact, Fryar insisted that "compared to
other parts of the world, we are still dealing
with very large quantities of gas still in the
ground".
"That's why we are still excited about the
opportunities that exist and why we have an exploration
programme that calls for one well a year for 10
years, and it's not just bpTT. Other companies
have their own exploration programmes as well and
the basin continues to attract players," he
said.
"I
doubt whether they would have foreseen Trinidad
and Tobago in a relatively short period
of time, becoming the world's largest exporter
from a single site of both methanol and ammonia.
"I doubt even more whether they would have
foreseen Trinidad and Tobago becoming the fifth
largest exporter in the world of liquefied natural
gas and the only such exporter in the whole of
Latin America and the Caribbean," Fryar added.
Meanwhile, the audit of Trinidad and Tobago's
petroleum reserves is complete and Government is
to soon reveal its results, Energy Minister and
Acting Prime Minister, Dr Lenny Saith, said at
the GazChem conference.
Houston-based energy consultant, Ryder Scott conducted
the audit.
Saith
said the audit "will give an informed
picture of our natural gas reserves".
Questioned
by reporters after his statement, a coy Saith
refused to divulge any details, adding
that he did not keep the figures at the "back
of his head".
Ryder Scott also conducted an audit in 2005, which
then placed this country's reserves at 34.86
tcf (trillion cubic feet).
Of this, 18.7 tcf was proven; 9.02 tcf was probable
and 7.06 tcf was possible - the categories in which
the Society of Petroleum Engineers places gas reserves.
With a packed schedule of wells to be drilled
over the next two years and proposed projects waiting
in the wings to come on stream, if more oil and
gas is found, many have their fingers crossed that
the three Ps increase.
Eleven wells, including two onshore, are to be
drilled this year at a total budgeted cost of US$234
million. And in 2008, six wells are to be drilled
at a total cost of US$164 million.
Additionally, from the 2006 bid rounds, the sum
of US$565 million is to be incurred from calendar
2008 on the amalgamated obligatory work programmes,
Saith said.
Trinidad
Express
Wednesday, June 27th 2007
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Trinidad
Express. All Rights Reserved.
