OREANDA-NEWS. November 29, 2012. BP Trinidad & Tobago (bpTT) announced that it has discovered an estimated 1 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas offshore Trinidad, doubling the estimated gas in place of the Savonette gas field, to 2tcf.

BPTT made the announcement during a meeting in London between Minister of Energy and Energy Affairs, Kevin Ramnarine; Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner to London, Garvin Nicholas; and BP representatives including Bob Fryar, Executive Vice President – Production; Bernard Looney, Executive Vice President – Developments; and Norman Christie, President, bpTT.

The Savonette 4 appraisal well was drilled into an untested fault block east of the original Savonette field discovery well, in water depths of almost 300 feet in the Columbus basin approximately 80 kilometres off the south east coast of Trinidad. The well was drilled to a total depth of 18,678 feet and penetrated hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs in two intervals with discovered gas in place exceeding initial estimates.

The Savonette field was discovered in 2004 by the Chachalaca exploration well and began production in 2009 through a normally unmanned platform built in Trinidad at TOFCO. Based on the success of the Savonette 4 well, bpTT is proposing to drill a further two development wells into the Savonette reservoirs.

The gas discovered began production in October 2012, with the Savonette 4 well currently flowing at approximately 225 million standard cubic feet of gas a day (mmscf/d), ramping up to 250mmscf/d. If successful, the two additional development wells are also expected to be brought into production over the next year to eighteen months.

“This is exciting news for both bpTT and the industry since this represents the largest discovery for bpTT since 2005,” said Norman Christie.

“The significant investment in the Savonette 4 well and the potential further investment in two additional development wells, combined with the investment in the ocean bottom cable seismic acquisition, is testament to bpTT’s ongoing commitment to the development of our Trinidad and Tobago operations and the wider industry. This discovery demonstrates that with the right technology we can continue to uncover the full potential of the Columbus Basin.”

BPTT has a 100 per cent working interest in Savonette 4”.