Last week, Perenco announced that they completed the acquisition of Woodside’s producing oil and gas assets in Trinidad & Tobago. This move, along with their acquisition of bpTT’s Cashima, Amherstia, Flamboyant and Immortelle (CAFI) fields earlier this year, solidifies the company as a major oil and gas producer in T&T. In fact, based on Q1 2025 production data it is estimated that Perenco will now be the 2nd largest producer of oil and gas in terms of barrel of oil equivalence, second to bpTT and is followed by Shell and EOG Resources.
Barrels of oil equivalent (boe) is a measure to combine natural gas production and crude oil production into one measure for ease of understanding. The equivalence refers to the energy content, with on average 5,800 cubic feet of gas producing the same amount of energy as a barrel of crude oil (this is a general estimate because different grades of crude and different type of natural gas will have different energy values based on their specific chemical composition). This energy equivalence does not take into account the fact that natural gas is usually less valuable than crude oil for the same energy content.
Perenco’s acquisition of Woodside’s assets is significant. Woodside produced over 300 mmscf/d which is about 12% of total natural gas production in T&T along with just over 1,600 barrels of oil per day. With the addition of the Woodside production, Perenco will now account for 22% of the oil and gas produced in T&T, leapfrogging both EOG Resources and Shell.
Gregoire de Courcelles, General Manager of Perenco T&T previously explained to EnergyNow 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. Given the age of many of Trinidad & Tobago’s oil and gas fields there is an obvious fit with Perenco’s strengths.
However, the company is not just interested in producing from existing assets. In 2024, they announced the successful drilling of the Onyx well and sidetrack in the eastern part of the undeveloped Onyx field. The two legs encountered significant columns of natural gas in two separate geological compartments. The Onyx field is an undeveloped gas discovery located within the TSP license, in a water depth of 180 ft, between the Poui and Teak fields, off Trinidad’s south-east coast. TSP is a joint venture between Perenco T&T Limited, the Operator, Heritage Petroleum Company Limited and The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited. This will add new production to Perenco’s portfolio if they are able to take a final investment decision and move to develop the field.