Oil and gas bid rounds coming for 2022

BID rounds for deepwater, shallow water and land blocks for exploration and drilling for natural gas will commence in 2022.

In his reading of the 2022 budget, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said Monday he was hopeful that next year’s bid rounds would attract significant investors.

“In September 2021, bpTT underlined its continuing interest in TT,” Imbert said.

“Following on recent exploration and successful activity on both our land and shallow marine areas we have ramped up our expectation in respect of our deepwater areas.” He said in the first bid round which will be for deep water areas, eleven blocks will be available.

The second bid round, which would be for onshore activity, will have 12 blocks available and the third round which will be for offshore shallow water exploration, 13 of 25 blocks will be available for bids.

Also noting the risks involved in oil and gas exploration and procurement, Imbert said the Ministry of finance and Energy will collaborate to conduct a review of the oil and gas taxation regime to ensure TT remains competitive in the hydrocarbon sector.

“We intend to review the appropriateness in today’s environment of our three main petroleum taxes, namely Petroleum Profits Tax (also known as Corporation Tax in this Sector), Supplemental Petroleum Tax and Royalty, both onshore and offshore, in the deep water and shallow water, and for large and small producers,” he said.