ExxonMobil Guyana started production today at Yellowtail, the fourth oil development in Guyana’s offshore Stabroek block. Yellowtail’s ONE GUYANA floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel joins the Destiny, Unity, and Prosperity FPSOs, bringing total installed capacity in Guyana to above 900,000 barrels of oil per day. 

bp plc announced a "fundamental reset" earlier this year, pivoting its strategy away from renewables and back toward fossil fuels after years of underperforming in the capital markets compared to its major peers such as Shell and Exxon.  Early indications are that this new direction seems to be paying off in the capital markets, with Q2 results surpassing earnings expectations and share prices rising with the news and on the back of an extremely promising exploration successes in Brazil and Namibia.

Trinidad and Tobago's government has agreed to award U.S. oil major ExxonMobil acreage in an ultra-deep area that includes seven blocks to explore for oil and gas, two senior government officials told Reuters.

Blue Water Shipping has announced that it has secured the Rig Agency and the Logistics & Shorebase support contract for Noble Corporation's operations in Block 52.

EnerMech has won a contract extension for work carried out on platforms offshore Trinidad and Tobago operated by bpTT.

In the energy sector there’s a constant ebb and flow when it comes to mergers and acquisitions. There has been quite a lot of consolidation in the industry in the past few weeks. Recently, SLB acquired ChampionX, Chevron acquired Hess Corporation and here in Trinidad, Perenco acquired the assets of Woodside Energy.  In the local energy services sector, we also saw TOSL Engineering purchasing Ansa Technologies. 

Last week, a pair of global energy services companies agreed on a merger creating a  leader in energy services, according to the companies – Subsea7 and Saipem.  Both major companies are active in the region with projects in Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. 

SLB has announced that it has closed its acquisition of ChampionX Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, ChampionX shareholders received 0.735 shares of SLB common stock in exchange for each ChampionX share. With the closing of the transaction, former ChampionX shareholders now own approximately 9% of SLB’s outstanding shares of common stock.

bp Trinidad and Tobago has achieved two major milestones, sanctioning the Ginger gas development and exploration success at its Frangipani well.

TechnipFMC has been awarded a major integrated Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation (iEPCI) contract by TotalEnergies for its GranMorgu project on Block 58, the first oil and gas development offshore Suriname. TechnipFMC indicated that the project is worth over $1b

The Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries has announced the granting of the Exploration and Production (Public Petroleum Rights) Licence for the Rio Claro Block situated in the Wards of Charuma, Cocal, Ortoire and Guayaguayare to NGC E&P Investments Limited and Primera Oil and Gas Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Touchstone Exploration Inc.

Massy Gas Products (Guyana) Ltd (MGPGL) commissioned an Air Separation Plant yesterday at their East Bank Demerara facility. The liquid oxygen and nitrogen plant has a production capacity of 13 tons per day. This cutting-edge facility is designed to meet the growing demands of Guyana’s medical and industrial sectors.

The Centre for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) recently held a one-day meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, featuring a series of presentations from industry professionals engaged in process safety. At the meeting, Heritage Petroleum’s CEO Erik Keskula gave welcoming remarks and started by saying “If there’s something that keeps me up at night it’s process safety”. Heritage Petroleum was the lead sponsor of the event and hosted the event alongside the CCPS. 

Tiger Tanks is the first private sector company in T&T to complete an extensive GHG inventory and mitigation assessment. Over the past few months, the company has partnered with the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) to conduct the assessment. This project allows Tiger Tanks to identify key emission sources and equips the company with the tools needed to implement targeted strategies for reducing those emissions.

Honeywell has announced a strategic collaboration with Chevron to develop advanced artificial intelligence (AI)-Assisted solutions to help operators make decisions to enhance efficiency for refining processes and improve safety within the industrial automation space. 

According to most projections, natural gas will play a significant role in the energy mix as the world transitions to lower carbon fuels and renewable energy. The market for fuel like coal and heavy crude will decline, while growth is still expected for natural gas and LNG. 

Touchstone has safely commissioned the flowline connecting the Cascadura C surface location to the Cascadura natural gas processing plant, which ties in our Cascadura-2ST1 and Cascadura-3ST1 wells. Additionally, a new natural gas separator has been installed and brought online, expanding the plant's gross natural gas processing capacity to approximately 140 million cubic feet per day.

bp has completed its acquisition of the remaining 50.03% interest in Lightsource bp, one of the world’s leading developers and operators of utility-scale solar and battery storage assets.

Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited (Paria) is proud to announce its achievement of attaining International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC), a critical step toward integrating with the European market’s stringent environmental standards. This certification not only reinforces Paria’s commitment to sustainability and transparency but also highlights the broader economic and environmental benefits for Trinidad, the Caribbean region, and their energy exports.

The past year has been marked by some pivotal developments in the Trinidad & Tobago energy sector which we hope will set a positive future trajectory the industry, notwithstanding ongoing challenges.

There are many deep and productive relationships already in place at the level of government, industry and individuals. With the exciting prospects in store for the Surinamese energy sector, I expect that many more mutually beneficial business relationships will build on the existing strong foundations.