Heritage Petroleum Company Limited announced the successful completion of negotiations with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for a new Exploration & Production license in its offshore acreage.
The new license was executed at a signing ceremony on Wednesday 20th January 2021, at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI), Tower C, International Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain. Today’s signing ceremony, which was chaired by Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Senator the Honourable Franklin Khan, is the culmination of months of negotiations between the Heritage team and senior officials at the MEEI.
This new Exploration and Production License combines the entire acreage of both the previous Trinmar Licensed Area and the North Marine Licensed Area, creating a single block that covers just over 96,000 hectares of offshore acreage. This makes it the single largest offshore exploration and production block on the west coast of the island. The licenses for the two previous areas expired in November 2019.
Mutually beneficial agreement
Under the terms of this new agreement the Government will benefit from payments made by Heritage over the 6-year life of the contract amounting to close to TTD$100 million dollars. Minister Khan said “I would like to publicly congratulate the performance of Heritage over the last two years. They have been the flagship State enterprise. As we speak, they have made, in their first year of operation, a profit of $1.4 billion, paying the State in excess of $800 million in taxes and from all indications they will repeat that performance in 2020 when the audited financials are completed”. Minister Khan went on to indicate that the performance of Heritage has justified the Government’s decision to restructure Petrotrin and that this new license will further strengthen the company’s performance.
According to Heritage Petroleum’s Chairman Michael Quamina, “the license will further unlock the value of the company’s offshore resources through a new and more robust phase of exploration activity. The new license provides the security we need to continue to execute our commercial strategy in the offshore area.”
Chief Executive Officer Arlene Chow elaborated further, “the successful negotiation of this new license will not only allow Heritage to progress current opportunities, but also carve out new prospects in the area. This will ensure the full commercial potential of the area is achieved, maximizing the economic value for the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”