It was recently announced that Perenco would be acquiring five of bpTT’s assets. This is a big step up in Trinidad for the Anglo-French company which has been the operator of the Teak, Samaan and Poui (TSP) fields since they purchased the assets from Repsol in 2016. The acquisition of bpTTs assets means that the company will now be the operator of gas fields, rather than the traditional oil acreage in Trinidad.
The acquisition of bpTTs assets means that the company will now be the operator of gas fields, rather than the traditional oil acreage in Trinidad.
Over the past eight years, Perenco T&T has completed several ambitious projects at the mature TSP asset and has become a sizeable supplier of gas for the domestic market. The company has become known for its mature field expertise and has indicated that this will be leveraged to develop further the resources from the newly acquired fields.
EnergyNow reached out to Gregoire de Courcelles, General Manager of Perenco T&T Limited, to learn more about the company and the plans for T&T as it has quietly been working in country with little fanfare.
One might assume that Perenco is a small company, but de Courcelles explained that Perenco is a leading independent hydrocarbon company with an operated production of about 500,000 boepd (barrels of oil equivalent per day), from 14 countries globally including UK, Central Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. The company is headquartered in London, UK and has approximately 8,000 employees from sixty-five (65) nationalities, with diverse backgrounds.
He explained that Perenco’s expertise revolves around developing mature and marginal oil and gas fields to optimise the recovery of resources and extend the economic lifespan. “We are involved worldwide in the full upstream cycle from exploration to decommissioning. The wide range of skills enables a flexible, reactive, and fit-for-purpose approach to field life extension.”
In Trinidad and Tobago since 2016, the company has been working in the Teak-Samaan-Poui (TSP) fields on a full modernisation programme of the asset through asset integrity, new power generation from gas, digitisation, automation, conversion of wells from gas-lift to electrical submersible pumping (ESPs) and development of natural gas production. De Courcelles said “In the past 5 years, we have conducted 59 workovers with new TSP-owned rigs as well as systematic integrity upgrades on all facilities, including the installation of new subsea infrastructure such as the newly commissioned pipeline that runs from Teak Alpha to Galeota.”
“Perenco continues to work on safely optimising and growing the production output from the asset through process de-bottlenecking and well interventions, inclusive of workovers and redrills. In a few weeks, we will also be drilling to appraise the Onyx field, a gas discovery located between the Poui and Teak fields. We wish to acknowledge the sterling support of our partners in the TSP joint venture, Heritage Petroleum Company Limited and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago for their steadfast cooperation in all of these projects,” he added.
In addition, he said, “Our modernisation plan is significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the asset by 30% over the next two years and our ambition is to further apply our experience to other assets while sharing our knowledge and expertise to further develop the local knowledge and skill base. In keeping with this strategy, Perenco T&T has exported local talent to its other subsidiaries in order to benefit from the Company’s international expertise and portfolio.”
De Courcelles said “Trinidad and Tobago has a long history of oil and gas, which perfectly aligns with Perenco’s global strategy in developing mature and marginal oil and gas fields. We have been comforted by the success of our years operating the TSP fields, which has demonstrated the full compatibility of our operating philosophy with the local industry and a favourable ecosystem for the local service companies.”
Perenco has a longstanding relationship with bp and de Courcelles said that the company has demonstrated that the model is fully complementary to BP’s. He said “We acquired large gas-producing assets from BP in the UK more than a decade ago, whereby several of the fields were scheduled for decommissioning, however, through the implementation of Perenco’s model, the current production of the UK subsidiaries is 45,000 boepd, mainly gas. We are one of the few North Sea operators with an increase of production year on year, thanks to our intense investment programme.”
As announced on the 2nd of September 2024, Perenco T&T has entered into an agreement with bpTT to acquire four gas assets and undeveloped resources from one field in the south-east coast of Trinidad. bpTT will continue to operate the assets included in the agreement for a transition period, at the end of which ownership and operatorship of the assets will be transferred to Perenco T&T. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2024.