Energy Ministry opens bidding on 26 deep-water blocks

The Ministry of Energy launched the deepwater bid round on February 10, the first day of the Energy Chamber’s three-day Energy Conference at the Hyatt Regency.

At the conference, permanent secretary Penelope Bradshaw-Niles said there were 26 blocks up for bid in TT’s deepwater regions off the northern and eastern coast of TT.

The legal notice that opened the bidding was dated January 24. Bids are now invited for production-sharing contracts for exploration and production in the assigned region. The deadline for posting the bids is July 2 at noon.

Senior geologist and team lead for the bid round Kimberly London said the acreage sits at a depth of 1,000-2,500 metres.

“The potential exists to extract a great amount of resources from the area, once we commit to doing the work required,” she said. “We have to continually invest in the exploration of these areas to get the development going.”

She said TT had been exploring the deepwater regions for at least 30 years.

The competitive bidding process is separated into three parts: a pre-bid round, in which bidders would have to pay a US$25,000 fee; a bid fee:bidders will have to pay US$40,000 per block; and a pitching round, in which bidders will provide the ministry with a technical presentation on each of the blocks on which oil and gas companies bid.

An internal evaluation will then be done to award the blocks to the preferred bidder.

Bidders will receive a data package which would contain everything needed to do proper evaluations of the blocks. They will get data on all of the areas up for bid as well as the necessary documents needed for the bidding round.

Bids must contain a technical and commercial evaluation of the areas as well as a signed declaration that the company has viewed the model production-sharing contract and has agreed to the terms.

Bidders will also have to comply with the government’s local-content policies and oil-spill contingency plans.

In his keynote address, Minister of Energy Stuart Young expressed confidence in the energy sector as he highlighted its achievements.

In January, Young signed the award of two production-sharing contracts for two blocks of shallow-water acreage, which were put up for bid in the shallow-water competitive bid round from October 2, 2023-May 27, 2024. The blocks were awarded to EOG.

On February 10, Young also noted the restructuring of ALNG, securing licences for production of the Dragon gas field, along with other milestones.

He said, “The path forward requires not just vision, but concrete investment and a belief in our destiny.

“What we have done to propel and secure TT’s future in the energy sector has been indicative of our confidence in our country and reflective of unparalleled competence.

He said work was in progress on the Dragon Gas Field, to which TT secured a 30-year licence for the development, and a final investment decision is being finalised with a view to seeing first gas by 2027.

BpTT and the National Gas Company of TT (NGCTT) also did seismic evaluation scans of the cross-border Manakin-Cocuina field, to which TT received an OFAC licence for exploitation and development along with Venezuela. Young said the evaluations were expected to be complete by the third quarter of 2025 and would determine the number of development wells to be drilled.

Quoting from independent energy research and business intelligence company Rystad Energy’s 2025 energy outlook, Young said investments in deep-water projects were forecast to increase by three per cent. The global demand for liquids is also projected to increase by about a million barrels a day, with NGL and other liquids expected to contribute additional growth of over 300,000 barrels per day by 2026.

“The global movement to clean energy has resulted in the government taking steps to diversify and strengthen our energy sector. However, this has not been at the expense of oil and gas, which are the mainstay of our economy.

“Our strategy has been to accelerate the exploitation of our oil and gas resources, which is in keeping with industry trends and the market requirements.”

Young also quoted from the International Energy Forum’s June 2024 publication, which said more investment in new oil and gas supply was needed to meet the growing demand for energy.

He said, based on the global energy outlook, a cumulative $4.3 trillion in new investments will be needed over the next five years.

“This augurs well for TT as the global energy industry has seen a turnaround by oil majors, who have cut back on their renewable plans and shifted their focus to their oil and gas segments."

He added that TT’s deep-water provinces held the greatest promise for major oil and gas discoveries noting that eight of the 14 wells explored by Woodside Energy resulted in discoveries of about 10.8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, with an estimated 7.2 tcf being potentially recoverable.

“The ministry is in discussion with Woodside on plans to develop 3.5 tcf of reserves in gas fields within its Calypso Project,” he said.

He also mentioned TT’s clean-energy projects such as Project Lara, the solar project being built in Brechin Castle.

“Although oil and gas remain dominant energy sources clean energy such as solar, wind energy and green hydrogen are emerging as significant contributors to the domestic energy landscape. This is a positive development both environmentally, and commercially, as the gas saving can be redirected where there are shortfalls.”