TOTAL SA divesting from Trinidad & Tobago

France’s Total SA is entering the final stages of divesting its assets in Trinidad & Tobago to the National Gas Co. of Trinidad & Tobago Ltd. (NGC).

Total, the NGC, and sources at the twin-island nation’s Ministry of Energy all confirm that the deal is expected to be completed within the next few months. After closing, NGC will own Total’s 30 percent share of the Greater Angostura field, which lies in 40 meters of water on Block 2(c) about 40 km off the northeastern coast of Trinidad. Greater Angostura includes oil and gas discoveries at Aripo, Kairi, and Canteen.

In 2005 the field’s gross recoverable oil reserves were estimated at 90-300 million barrels, with P50 volumes of 160 million barrels. The range of gross recoverable gas volumes is 1-2.3 trillion cubic feet, with a P50 volume of 1.75 trillion cubic feet. The NGC told reporters that it was bounded by a confidentiality agreement and it will make a comprehensive statement on completion of the process.

Total’s decision to pull out of Trinidad followed a failed attempt in 2011 to win the deepwater Block 23A. That block was awarded to BP Trinidad & Tobago. Having failed in 2001 and 2003 to get the same block, the company decided to leave.

The company has also lost interest in Trinidad & Tobago after its massive oil discovery in French Guiana. Total and its partners drilled the Zaedyus exploration well to test whether the Jubilee field in Ghana was mirrored in South America and the “Atlantic mirror” theory has been proven with a discovery of a field that could hold 700 million barrels in gross reserves. That well encountered 72 m of so-called net oil pay.

Geologists believe that when the Atlantic Ocean started opening between South America and Africa, organic sediment resulted in hydrocarbon deposits known as the Late Cretaceous turbidite sands. They haven’t been drilled to date because they are less visible than other types of deposits and drilling at such depths has only recently become viable.

Source: Oil & Gas Journal