(Trinidad Guardian) The board of Australian outfit BHP has approved its more than $3 billion Ruby and Delaware project in T&T. The company last week announced the decision to go ahead with the project which it expects will add 16,000 barrels of oil to T&T’s crude production, or at current levels increase the country’s total production by 27 per cent.
It noted that its contribution to the project will be $1.92 billion with the other $1.08 billion coming from Stare-owned Heritage Petroleum and National Gas Company.
In a release on the company’s website it said: “The project has estimated recoverable 2C resources of 13.2 million barrels of oil and 274 billion cubic feet of natural. First production is expected in the 2021 calendar year and is estimated to increase production by 16,000 barrels of oil per day (bop/d) and 80 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscf/d) gross at its peak.”
The Ruby Project is located in the Block 3(a) development area of the North East coast, close to Toco.
“The project consists of five production wells tied back utilising the latent capacity of the existing processing facilities, proven technology of the existing operated asset, and newly acquired ocean bottom node seismic imaging.” The company’s release read.
BHP President Operations Petroleum Geraldine Slattery said: “This is an important milestone for BHP in Trinidad and Tobago. Ruby aligns well with our strategy of maximising value from our existing assets, bringing competitive near term value and volume growth.”
BHP, as the operator, holds a 68.46 per cent interest, and Heritage Petroleum and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC) hold the remaining 20.13 per cent and 11.41 per cent interest, respectively. The Block 3(a) Joint Operating Agreement requires at least two parties and 65 per cent of the working interest to approve the investment.
