Shell has formally begun the process of seeking environmental clearance for the highly anticipated Manatee project, though the submission of an application for a certificate of environmental clearance to Trinidad & Tobago’s Environmental Management Authority (EMA).
The EMA is the environmental regulator and for the project to advance a certificate of environmental clearance (CEC) must be granted.
Manatee is the Trinidad and Tobago portion of the giant Loran-Manatee field that straddles Trinidad and Tobago’s maritime boundary with Venezuela. The combined Loran-Manatee field has an estimated resource of 10.04 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, of which 2.712 tcf is within the Manatee portion. The Manatee field is located around 100 km off the east coast of Trinidad in an average water depth of 105 m (340 feet). Manatee will be largest new east coast field development in recent years. It is expected to sustain gas supplies to both domestic and export markets and has the potential to enable future growth opportunities.
As part of the CEC process, Shell has made extensive information about the project available to the public for comment. The Manatee project is a major one, and the local and international energy industry is keeping a close eye. Offshore Technology reports that the project will cost approximately US$1.8 billion. At the time of CEC submission, Shell anticipates first gas by Q1 2028. It is anticipated that the execution phase of this project is approximately 3.5 years; 2.5 years of site operations with an operations phase of 13 years.
The Manatee field has had a long history. Exploration and appraisal activities began when Loran-Manatee was discovered in 1983 and subsequently appraised via four wells. Reservoir depths range from 2,000 to 4,500 ft true vertical depth subsea (TVDSS) with an associated pressure range of 980 to 2,100 psi.
Back in 2010, a unitisation agreement was put in place for the Loran-Manatee field, which would have allowed joint development of the entire field as one project. The agreement was terminated in 2019 and the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and of Venezuela agreed to the independent development by each nation of the portion of the field that falls within its respective marine area.
In 2021, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley said: “The decision to proceed independently on the development of the cross-border fields created the opportunity for the government as resource owner and for Shell as contractor to monetise what would be one of the country’s largest natural gas fields to date.”
Shell is the operator of the Manatee field with a 100% working interest under the renegotiated sub-block Block 6d Production Sharing Contract (PSC). The company indicated that the recovered hydrocarbons from Manatee would be delivered by drilling eight new development wells from a new, normally unmanned offshore platform from which gas and condensate would be delivered to shore via a new gas pipeline. The hydrocarbons would be processed at National Gas Company’s (NGC) existing Beachfield Facility and delivered for sale to both export and domestic markets.
The Shell submission to the environmental regulator highlighted 6 key elements of the project.
The company seeks to drill 8 new horizontal, open-hole gravel packed wells using a Class 1 Jack-up rig. These will be horizontal, single zone, open-hole gravel packed wells producing at a plateau rate of up to 900 mmscf/d.
In addition, Shell will install and commission a new offshore platform. The platform is expected to be unmanned and controlled from shore via a new fibre-optic cable. The platform will incorporate a 12-slot well-bay and a helideck and will carry out minimal topside processing as follows: product separation, gas and condensate metering, and produced water treatment.
A new 112 km, 32” pipeline will be installed from platform to shore, which includes a 3 km onshore segment to deliver hydrocarbons to the existing Shell-operated but NGC-owned Beachfield Gas Facility for processing.
As part of the project, the Beachfield Facility will be upgraded to increase facility throughput capacity to on billion cubic feet per day (1 bcf/d). This will involve the installation of a new Manatee gas separator and metering skids.
Onshore, there will also be installation of downstream pipelines to deliver Manatee gas to nearby networks, namely the Cross Island Pipeline (CIP) the domestic system for sale and onward transportation to market.
In March 2023, it was reported that McDermott was awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract from Shell Trinidad and Tobago Limited for the Manatee gas development project as part of a competitive FEED process. Under the contract scope, McDermott will provide comprehensive FEED services for a wellhead platform, export pipeline system, shore approach, midstream pipeline and onshore control room.
Shell is currently the second-largest natural gas producer in Trinidad and Tobago and produces approximately 750 mmscf/d. The present national natural gas production is 2.5bcf/d. Production has been falling over time and this has severely affected the downstream petrochemical and LNG export industry. The industry is certainly eyeing the new gas from the Manatee field to alleviate some of the effects of gas curtailment in Pt. Lisas and at Atlantic LNG facility. In addition, the industry hopes to see other major projects delivered, such as Woodside’s Calypso deepwater gas development. The Energy Chamber has been working with the government to ensure that fiscal terms encourage development of these large-scale projects and continues to encourage swift decision-making and streamlining of the approval processes to encourage quick delivery of projects and ultimately securing delivery of natural gas for the downstream industry.
