Trinidad to tender eight deepwater blocks by end of March
Trinidad and Tobago's Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI) plans to tender eight offshore blocks in the
deep Atlantic by the end of March, a ministry spokesperson told.
The 800 sq km blocks are located off the east coast of Trinidad and are 1,700-2,500 meters deep, Trinidad's MEEI
permanent secretary Leroy Mayers was quoted as saying.
Several international companies with Caribbean operations have expressed their interest, such as US oil company EOG
Resources and Anglo-Australian resources company BHP Billiton. UK oil majors BP and BG Group are also studying data
on the blocks.
At end-January MEEI opened a competitive bid round for eight blocks in the Combined Southern basin land acreage,
South Coast Marine Area and three blocks in the Shallow Marine Acreage off the north and east coasts of Trinidad.
The eight onshore/nearshore blocks include shallow and deep horizon areas in each of the Guayaguayare, Southwest
Peninsula, Herrera and Central Range blocks.
The shallow marine blocks are 2(ab), comprising an area of 1,605 sq km, NCMA 2 and NCMA 3, both covering an area of
1,019 sq km. The three blocks have water depths ranging from 25-130 meters.
Companies intending to bid on any of the blocks referred to above will be required to pay a pre-bid application fee.
This fee entitles the prospective bidder to the relevant data package, which contains 2D seismic lines and well data
on the respective blocks.
The fee is $ 150,000 for to bid on any or all of the combined onshore/nearshore blocks and $ 50,000 each for the
three shallow marine blocks. Interested companies must submit bids by March 30 and the winning bidders will be
announced on or before June 4, the ministry spokesperson said.
