bpTT to invest US$800m in 2023

bpTT president David Campbell said the company will be investing US$800 million in TT in 2023. This investment will go towards ongoing projects and infrastructural renewal.

Campbell was speaking to the media at a news conference at the bpTT Oval box, Tragarete Road, Port of Spain. It was his first meeting with the media since becoming bpTT head in October.

He said he was excited about heading up the organisation due to its importance to bp and to the country.

“We’ve invested about US$3.4 billion in TT between 2018 and 2022, and we expect to invest about US$800 million in 2023. Ten per cent of bp’s production comes from TT, this is the largest gas production region in bp worldwide in terms of net bp share, so that’s very significant. The financial contribution varies based on the prices of oil and of gas, but it’s still important. The past record in investment shows we have been successful in winning investment for this country and I would expect that to continue as long as we can keep our own costs low, and the terms on offer financially are attractive.”

Campbell said the investment had gone in projects such as Matapal and Cassia C, which is the company’s first offshore compression facility. He said the company was also investing in projects that do not add production but are critical for maintaining a business fit for the future.

“These include infrastructure renewal such as replacing two of our key pipelines – our 12-inch pipeline that brings all our liquids to our Galeota terminal for processing and our six-inch pipeline that connects our Beachfield facility to the Galeota terminal. We’ve also upgraded our Beachfield gas-receiving facilities and built new liquid processing facilities at the Galeota terminal.

“We recently spudded (started drilling) the first of four wells of our current drilling programme on small pools at Mango and Savonette. This programme targets resources close to existing platforms and once successful, will be able to bring on production by the end of this year and into early 2023.”

Campbell said increasing gas production is a top priority for bpTT.

“There’s clearly a need for more gas production in the world from areas where people can trade and buy, and TT’s good in that respect. TT’s got an excellent reputation for well over 20 years for supplying gas to worldwide markets, it’s excellently situated geographically, it has experience, it’s trusted as an operator, it’s got a good framework in terms of governance, so I think there’s plenty of call for what TT has to offer, so that’s going to continue. We’re just short of gas so what I’m offering here is that we try participate in finding more gas in TT waters.”

He said the prospects found have to be competitive in order for investments to be received.

“bpTT said it’s going to reduce the amount the capital it’s spending on oil and gas projects worldwide, or maintain it at a lower level than it did, partly that’s efficiency and partly to allow us to spend more on renewables. TT will be part of that and part of our role here is to make the projects as competitive as possible.

“Our main focus in TT has been on gas, but in terms of the company as a whole oil is still important. We have a three-part strategy, one part of which is what we call resilient hydrocarbons – so gas and oil, trying to make them as low emissions as possible, but nevertheless a very important part of paying for the future, renewables are another part of that strategy, as is convenience and mobility, driving, electrification and so on.”

Asked what changes the company had or would be implementing to adjust for the climate crisis, Campbell said it understood the problem was real and had committed to several initiatives.

“The company has completely pivoted to a net zero by 2050 or sooner purpose, and in helping the world to decarbonise where we can. I mentioned the reduced investment from previous levels of oil and gas, we’ve said we won’t do new countries for exploration, and we’re committing substantial amounts of capital to renewable projects and raw carbon projects, so this is a very big change in bp and in TT we’ll be no different.

“The engineering involved in any projects, including deepwater, will take all these factors, including rising sea levels, into account. We’ll look at wave heights, storms, and so on. We’ll model weather conditions, whether they’re static, or getting worse or whatever, and they will be taken into account. We’ll also have to look at that in terms of defensive and infrastructure changes for our existing facilities as well, which we do all over the world.”

Campbell said bpTT was excited about commercial opportunities such as the Cypre development, the recently renewed contract with NGC, agreements with Atlantic, joint bids with Shell, and other initiatives.