BHP Billiton is even more confident about finding large amounts of oil and gas in the deep water than it was when it bid on several blocks in 2014.
President of BHP T&T Vincent Pereira told Business & Money that he was very happy with the way the drilling campaign has so far gone with the company encountering natural gas in three of the four wells it drilled.
In a brief interview at the Hyatt Regency last week, Pereira said, “We are very confident about the deepwater. We have been able to encounter hydrocarbons in three of our four wells and the programme is going good.”
“Our success has been based on several things including the use of technology. From the acquisition of our seismic to processing to the rig we hired to making decisions where to drill, it has all been driven by the latest technology. It’s why, so far, we have had a high success rate.”
BHP Billiton has already announced that it found five trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas in Block TTDAA 5 where it drilled its Le Clerc Well in 2016. The company has also said it found hydrocarbons in Victoria-1, also in Block TTDAA 5. Sources, however, shared that the Victoria-1 discovery is in the order of one tcf of gas.
The company also drilled its Bongos-2 well which Business & Money exclusively reported was a significant gas discovery in the deep water.
Multiple sources at the company had confirmed that the well did not just “encounter hydrocarbons” as was announced by BHP last month but that it is a major gas discovery having penetrated the three gas sands that the company was aiming at, when it first drilled the well.
Asked if he was more excited about the Bongos-2 discovery than the 5tcf Le Clerc find, Pereira would only say that he was “very excited about Bongos-2 and more information will be revealed in the coming months.”
Bongos-2 is located in BHP’s northern contract area, east of Tobago in deep-water block 14.
BHP holds a 70 per cent stake in the block with remainder 30 per cent belonging to bpTT.
So far, the company would only repeat the statement it has been making since August. It told Business and Money, “The Bongos-2 exploration well was spud on 22 July 2018 and encountered hydrocarbons. Drilling is still in progress and this is all we can share at this time. As soon as we have more information I’ll let you know.”
According to sources, “We are all very pleased with this well. We were able to penetrate all the gas zones we were aiming for and we believe that apart from significant gas the structure could have oil in the deeper horizons.”
No oil was encountered in the Bongos-2 well even though it was drilled deeper than was originally planned, but from the information gathered from the well it has led BHP to believe that there could also be oil in the block.
Bongos-2 was spud after Bongos 1 had experienced mechanical difficulty shortly after it was originally drilled. This would mean good news for the country and the Minister of Finance Colm Imbert as he prepares to present in 2018/2019 annual budget.
Sources indicate that BHP plans to return to the same block to drill another well next year but Pereira would only say no decision has been taken.
The success in the deepwater is sure to help the country’s reserves to production ratio when it is finally put on the books and with both Atlantic LNG and downstream still in desperate need for more gas it could eventually help with the long-term stability of the sector.
The reality, however, is that even with the best will these discoveries will take another five to seven years to come to market it would put government in a better position to assure present investors in the petrochemical sector that the country has gas for a long time to come and therefore increase investor confidence.
It may also allow the government to begin to look the possibility of other downstream investments in the petrochemical sector and, therefore, into the future increase the country’s revenue streams.
The deepwater drilling campaign is also crucial because it is where most experts expect the country to have the best chance of finding large accumulations of natural gas and crude oil.