ENERGY Caribbean Yearbook (2013-14)

Companies
repsol trinidad and tobago
Repsol slims itself down
Repsol finds itself a much smaller player in the
Countries
Trinidad and Tobago energy sector in 2013 than it
was only a year earlier.
Its major asset – its shareholding in Atlantic’s
four LNG trains – has, from all accounts, been
purchased by Royal Dutch Shell, leaving Repsol with no
ownership interest in the 15.2 million tonnes a year of gas
liquefaction capacity in the world’s sixth largest LNG trader,
though it may well continue to buy LNG from Trinidad and
Tobago to service its own supply commitments.
That Atlantic holding amounted to 20% in train one, 25%
in trains 2 and 3, and 22.2% in train 4.
However, Repsol’s presence is still significant. It owns
30% of bpTT, the biggest upstream company in the
energy sector, which produces around 408,000 barrels of oil
equivalent a day (boed), mainly natural gas. It has 70% and
operatorship in the Teak/Samaan/Poui (TSP) block off the
east coast, which produces close to 12,000 b/d of oil and 30
mmcfd of gas.
Repsol is concentrating on the one
asset of which it is in charge – the
TSP block – and maximising its
performance
Repsol Headquarters, Trinidad (courtesy Repsol)
Repsol’s major asset – its shareholding
in Atlantic’s four LNG trains – has,
from all accounts, been purchased
by Royal Dutch Shell
Repsol is also a 30%, non-operating shareholder in block
5b, on the maritime boundary line with Venezuela southwest
of Trinidad, where around 2 trillion cubic feet of gas was
identified by the Manakin 1 exploration well 13 years ago.
The Coquina 1 well sunk by Venezuela’s PdVSA in 1982 also
encountered gas, in shallower horizons.
This is a significant asset from Repsol’s point of view,
but it can’t be monetised until agreement is reached with
Venezuela on unitising the reservoirs on each side. The latest
word on the matter from Norman Christie, regional president,
Trinidad, for bpTT (the operator of 5b), is that “the reserves
have been decided but divisions have not yet been agreed.”
Not surprisingly, Christie sees Manakin as “a medium-term
development matter.”
Repsol also partnered BHP Billiton in the 2010 deep water
acreage auction to bid for block 23b. The bid was not
acceptable to the energy ministry in the terms in which
it was couched, and the parties were supposed to hold
discussions “with a view to attaining a mutually acceptable
proposal.” Those discussions have not yet concluded, as far
as this YEARBOOK is aware, and it is possible that BHP Billiton
may no longer be interested in them, having been awarded
no fewer than four other deep water blocks – TTDAA 5-6 and
28-29 – in the 2012 deep water bid round.
Which leaves Repsol to concentrate on the one asset
of which it is in charge – the TSP block – and maximise its
performance in 2013. It is attempting to do that by drilling
two appraisal wells and six in-fill wells, the latter in the Teak
field, the old workhorse of the block. Some non-rig work will
also be undertaken to improve the wells’ flow.
TSP, being old fields, are declining fast, and Repsol’s
challenge is how to arrest, and even reverse, that slide. It
has done a commendable job so far, even managing to push
production up a little between 2011 (average 11,771 b/d)
and 2012 (average 11,961 b/d).
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