Energy Ministry praises Perenco

THE Energy Ministry has praised Perenco TT Ltd for a recent gas discovery in the offshore Onyx field.

In a statement on May 15, the ministry said the Onyx field was previously discovered through exploration drilling offshore South East Trinidad in the Columbus Basin between the Teak and Poui fields.

This field is operated by Perenco with a 70 per cent working interest.

Appraisal drilling of this field began on January 17 via the drilling of the appraisal well ONYX-02B01 and its planned sidetrack, ONYX-02B02 to define the resource volumes in the fields east and far east panels.

The former was drilled to a depth of 4,838 feet, while the latter was drilled to a depth of 4,780 feet.

The ministry said, "During the drilling of both wells, all intervals of interest were penetrated with significantly thick gas bearing sands encountered.

"Subsurface data was collected from both wells and are currently being used to refine geological and reservoir models with the ultimate aim of the defining the in-place volumes."

Perenco will now evaluate these findings to guide future development considerations.

These will be discussed collaboratively with the ministry and all relevant regulatory stakeholders.

The ministry said findings are a very positive development for Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector "as we continue to work with stakeholders such as Perenco to maximise the production of our natural resources for the benefit of the citizens of the Republic of TT."

Former energy minister Stuart Young also congratulated Perenco on this discovery.

In a post on X, Young said, "Well done, Perenco. Congratulations. This was another one we negotiated. Glad it came through. This is good for TT."