Shell to pay for Heritage share
Royal Dutch Shell is expected to pay all the costs for the seismic survey it will shoot in Heritage Petroleum offshore fields (formerly called Trinmar acreage) as the company goes after oil and gas.
Newly minted State company Heritage Petroleum is to be carried according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that has been signed between the two companies.
Under the MOU Shell will use state of the art seismic technology and will drill its wells. If there is a discovery it is only then that Heritage will pay its part of the development work.
This is in return for a share of the discovery in what many believe has significant upside potential.
Sources with knowledge of the MOU tell Sunday Business that Shell, which is exclusively a natural gas producer in T&T, and the major shareholder in Atlantic, also believes that there is significant natural gas potential in Heritage Offshore acreage.
On Thursday Energy Minister Franklin Khan told a political meeting in Point Fortin that he was confident of success in the offshore acreage.
He said: “Without disclosing too much, you would have seen on the papers where Heritage has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Shell, for Shell to run OBN or Ocean Bottom Nodes Seismic, which is their most advanced technology in the world.
“It’s being used on the East coast as we speak. It’s being used all over the world to search for and to identify prospects and oil. And that project is about to start by the end of this year. With that new data set, I can guarantee you that significant discoveries will be made in the Trinmar acreage.”
Khan said the jewel in Heritage crown is what used to be the Trinmar asset. He explained: “Since I was a young geologist in this industry in the 80’s I’m hearing ‘Trinmar has potential.’ I worked in Trinmar for a while and I know Trinmar has potential, but we just didn’t get it right.”
The Energy Minister said things were about to change and noted the irony of Shell being the first private company to once again get access to the offshore acreage which it walked away from decades ago.
“ And you know there’s a saying, what goes around comes around. Is the very Shell that left Trinidad, right here in Point Fortin in 1974. Forty-five years after, giving up their equity in the very Trinmar, they had one third interest in Trinmar. They have seen it fit, to come back into a joint venture with us, to undergo some serious exploration for oil and gas in the Trinmar acreage.”
On the issue of the need for continued close relations with Venezuela, both Khan and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley insisted that the South American neighbour was an important part of this country’s energy future. They noted the closeness of the Venezuelan border and the impact of regional geography.
“Trinmar shares are border with Venezuela.
The Venezuelan border is not only on the east coast you know. It’s not only on the north coast there to Dragon you know. Patao and down southwest Soldado is within eyesight of the Venezuelan border.
And from the regional geological perspective, the closer you are to Venezuela, the better your chances are for finding oil and gas.”
He added: “People don’t realise it but Venezuela has the highest oil reserves in the world. In the world you know, more than Saudi Arabia, more than the entire middle east.
“So Venezuela is not something to shrug off as a non-entity. Venezuela has a strategic role to play in the future of the energy industry in T&T. And it matters not to us which regime is in authority or in power.
We’re looking at the strategic relationship from a resource development point of view.”
Venezuela’s daily production has plummeted recently due to the ongoing political instability in the neighbouring country.
Khan praised Rowley’s leadership in the energy sector and his ability to broker the cross-border gas deal.
He said: “And it is again because of our leadership under Dr Rowley that we have been able to broker the Dragon Deal, and now we are in the process of talking to the Venezuelans to develop Manatee before Loran.”
Khan said Heritage has ramped up the activities on land and has 14 rigs doing work overs.
He ended: “I told them last week: ‘Take on four to six more rigs.’ You know what I was told? ‘There isn’t none available.’ Because the local market cannot supply it, people need time to get rigs in operation.
So it means that we have exhausted the rig capacity as we speak.
“And I’m happy to announce ladies and gentlemen, that after two and half years with my encouragement and the Prime Minster’s encouragement, Heritage has drilled its first well last week. Right here in Point Fortin, it’s a Point Fortin central well and it has been a successful well.”
Newly minted State company Heritage Petroleum is to be carried according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that has been signed between the two companies.
Under the MOU Shell will use state of the art seismic technology and will drill its wells. If there is a discovery it is only then that Heritage will pay its part of the development work.
This is in return for a share of the discovery in what many believe has significant upside potential.
Sources with knowledge of the MOU tell Sunday Business that Shell, which is exclusively a natural gas producer in T&T, and the major shareholder in Atlantic, also believes that there is significant natural gas potential in Heritage Offshore acreage.
On Thursday Energy Minister Franklin Khan told a political meeting in Point Fortin that he was confident of success in the offshore acreage.
He said: “Without disclosing too much, you would have seen on the papers where Heritage has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Shell, for Shell to run OBN or Ocean Bottom Nodes Seismic, which is their most advanced technology in the world.
“It’s being used on the East coast as we speak. It’s being used all over the world to search for and to identify prospects and oil. And that project is about to start by the end of this year. With that new data set, I can guarantee you that significant discoveries will be made in the Trinmar acreage.”
Khan said the jewel in Heritage crown is what used to be the Trinmar asset. He explained: “Since I was a young geologist in this industry in the 80’s I’m hearing ‘Trinmar has potential.’ I worked in Trinmar for a while and I know Trinmar has potential, but we just didn’t get it right.”
The Energy Minister said things were about to change and noted the irony of Shell being the first private company to once again get access to the offshore acreage which it walked away from decades ago.
“ And you know there’s a saying, what goes around comes around. Is the very Shell that left Trinidad, right here in Point Fortin in 1974. Forty-five years after, giving up their equity in the very Trinmar, they had one third interest in Trinmar. They have seen it fit, to come back into a joint venture with us, to undergo some serious exploration for oil and gas in the Trinmar acreage.”
On the issue of the need for continued close relations with Venezuela, both Khan and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley insisted that the South American neighbour was an important part of this country’s energy future. They noted the closeness of the Venezuelan border and the impact of regional geography.
“Trinmar shares are border with Venezuela.
The Venezuelan border is not only on the east coast you know. It’s not only on the north coast there to Dragon you know. Patao and down southwest Soldado is within eyesight of the Venezuelan border.
And from the regional geological perspective, the closer you are to Venezuela, the better your chances are for finding oil and gas.”
He added: “People don’t realise it but Venezuela has the highest oil reserves in the world. In the world you know, more than Saudi Arabia, more than the entire middle east.
“So Venezuela is not something to shrug off as a non-entity. Venezuela has a strategic role to play in the future of the energy industry in T&T. And it matters not to us which regime is in authority or in power.
We’re looking at the strategic relationship from a resource development point of view.”
Venezuela’s daily production has plummeted recently due to the ongoing political instability in the neighbouring country.
Khan praised Rowley’s leadership in the energy sector and his ability to broker the cross-border gas deal.
He said: “And it is again because of our leadership under Dr Rowley that we have been able to broker the Dragon Deal, and now we are in the process of talking to the Venezuelans to develop Manatee before Loran.”
Khan said Heritage has ramped up the activities on land and has 14 rigs doing work overs.
He ended: “I told them last week: ‘Take on four to six more rigs.’ You know what I was told? ‘There isn’t none available.’ Because the local market cannot supply it, people need time to get rigs in operation.
So it means that we have exhausted the rig capacity as we speak.
“And I’m happy to announce ladies and gentlemen, that after two and half years with my encouragement and the Prime Minster’s encouragement, Heritage has drilled its first well last week. Right here in Point Fortin, it’s a Point Fortin central well and it has been a successful well.”