Govt
keeps Ibis Deep dry hole
TG
Prime Minister Patrick Manning,
second from left, speaks to members of the media
at
a site visit on bpTT’s Ibis Deep exploration
well. Looking on is Energy Minister Dr Lenny Saith,
left, Guardian’s
Anthony Wilson, and chairman and CEO of bpTT, Robert
Riley.
By
Asha Javeed
The Trinidad Guardian
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
09 23 07
The
Government has retained bpTT’s dry well,
Ibis Deep, as an exploration prospect.
This
was one of the recommendations of the Ryder Scott
Hydrocarbon audit which looked at the hydrocarbon
map of T&T.
The
Ibis Deep well was drilled by bpTT on EOG’s
acreage and the two companies had hoped to establish
a new frontier for hydrocarbons, namely tahe shallow
water/deep horizon.
The
well was planned for a depth of 25,000 feet in
the South East Coast Consortium Block, but drilling
was stopped at 19,068 feet because the company
failed to find any “hydrocarbon bearing structures.”
By then bpTT had spent US$80 million.
Bp was engaged in a Farm In operation with EOG
which allowed bp to bear the full cost of the well
and share part of the production with EOG.
Helena Inniss King, director of resource management
at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries,
said that the consultants believed that although
the well turned out to be a dry hole, the Government
should still carry it as a prospect on its books.
Retaining
the well as a prospect meant that exploration
in the deep horizon was still alive and would support
the Government’s view that there are hydrocarbons
in the area.
“What it means is that it did not kill off
deep horizon offshore on the east coast. It was
very difficult to drill and bpTT did encounter
technical difficulties,” Inniss King said.
She noted that bpTT has kept the deep acreage
of its TSP field which proved that Ibis Deep did
not kill off the deep horizon.
Bp will return to deep horizon exploration in
2008.
Tony Paul, energy consultant and geologist, explained
that based on the limited seismic data and the
migration path which the company was following,
it expected to find hydrocarbon in the structure.
He explained that the failure of the well was the
failure of the reservoir prediction model.
He said the knowledge of Ibis Deep meant that
the company can better predict the prospect type
and deep structures that have oil/gas would still
be on the books.
“Ibis Deep had all the characteristics except
the sand. And lookalike prospects have not been
written off yet because the data at that depth
is so sparse,” he said.
A bpTT statement said that any comment on the
matter would have to be made in conjunction with
EOG.
The
Trinidad Guardian
Thursday 20th September, 2007
Copyright
©2007 Trinidad
Guardian . All Rights Reserved.
