LNG

UK major BP said the Cassia C natural gas development in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad & Tobago had safely delivered first gas and given a boost to feed-gas resources for the Point Fortin export plant in Trinidad.

The Cassia C project is BP’s first offshore compression platform and its biggest offshore facility.

BP said the project would enable the production of low-pressure gas resources from the Greater Cassia Area.

The platform is BP’s 16th offshore facility and is connected to the existing Cassia hub which lies about 35 miles off Trinidad’s southeast coast.

“Cassia C is expected to produce, at peak, about 200-300 million standard cubic feet a day of gas,” said the UK company.

“Production will go towards meeting the BP Trinidad & Tobago unit’s gas supply commitments and will be important to sustaining LNG and petrochemical industries,” said BP.

David Campbell, the President of BP’s Trinidad unit said the first gas from Cassia C was important for the nation’s resource availability.

Unlocking resources

“This first offshore compression facility will allow us to unlock new resources and bring much-needed gas to market,” explained Campbell.

“I am immensely proud of the teams which have been working hard to bring this facility online,” he stated.

Ewan Drummond, BP senior vice president for projects, production, and operations said it was a great achievement to deliver the project.

“Cassia C is a great example of BP’s resilient hydrocarbons strategy in action - providing the energy the world needs now and helping us invest in the energy transition,” added Drummond.

BP said that the Cassia C platform’s jacket - its legs and supporting frame - was built at Trinidad Offshore Fabricators (TOFCO) and installed in 2020.

Its topside structure was built in the McDermott fabrication yard at Altamira in Mexico and was installed in 2021.

BP added that the Cassia C project was an important step in the nation’s Area Development Plan, which includes a combination of exploration, development projects and activities focused on maximizing production from the available acreage.

“First gas from Cassia C follows the recent sanction of the Cypre development and the execution of the gas supply agreement with the National Gas Company,” explained BP.

BP operates projects in about 680,000 acres off Trinidad’s East Coast and its Caribbean subsidiary now has 16 offshore platforms and two onshore processing facilities.

March 25 (LNGJ) - The first April LNG cargo for the UK will come from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, according to port authorities. The 173,400 cubic metres capacity carrier “Minerva Psara” lifted the cargo from the Point Fortin liquefaction plant in Trinidad on March 20 and the shipment is scheduled to be discharged on April 1 at the UK South Hook import terminal in Milford Haven.

Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean nation shipping cargoes from the Atlantic LNG facility at Point Fortin in Trinidad, will have access to more feed gas after Royal Dutch Shell started production at a new gas field.

Shell said natural gas was now flowing from “Project Barracuda”, otherwise known as Block 5C in the East Coast Marine Area (ECMA) of Trinidad and Tobago.

“This marks a significant milestone in the delivery of gas both domestically and internationally through Atlantic LNG,” stated the Anglo-Dutch company.

Project Barracuda is a backfill venture amounting to around 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or 140 million standard cubic feet per day of gas, of sustained near-term output with peak production expected to be about 40,000 boe per day, or 220 mmscf per day.

“It is Shell’s first greenfield project in the country and one of its largest in Trinidad and Tobago since the BG Group (2017) acquisition,” stated Shell.

The new feed-gas resources are a boost for the plant in Trinidad that saw exports drop in 2020 by 19.3 percent to 10.08 million tonnes.

Before the shale-gas boom in North America, Trinidad was the main LNG supplier to import terminals in the US, now the world's third-largest LNG exporter.

Shell is a major shareholder in Atlantic LNG with equity shares in the four liquefaction Trains at the Point Fortin facility ranging between 46.0 percent to 57.5 percent.

Maarten Wetselaar, Director of Integrated Gas, Renewable and Energy Solutions at Shell, said that Project Barracuda strengthened the “resilience and competitiveness” of Shell’s position in Trinidad and Tobago.

“This is a key growth opportunity that supports our long-term strategy in the country as well as our global LNG growth ambitions,” stated Wetselaar.

Eugene Okpere, Shell’s Senior VP and Country Chair, said he was delighted with the start of production.

“We are immensely proud of our people and the remarkable work it took to achieve this milestone, particularly given that drilling began in May 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic,” explained Okpere.

“Our execution strategy had to be completely overhauled to deliver our business plan, all while working remotely. It required tremendous resilience, adaptability and commitment,” he said.

Shell noted that ECMA is one of the most prolific gas-producing areas in Trinidad and Tobago.

As part of Shell’s development strategy in the region, the company had sought ways to access the significant volumes that exist there and bring them on stream.

The Barracuda Project comprises two subsea wells, both 100 percent owned by Shell, one in the Endeavour field and the other in the Bounty field.

Both wells are tied back to Shell’s Dolphin platform.

“These are two of the deepest development wells in Trinidad and Tobago,” said Shell.

“Endeavour was drilled to a depth of 20,000 feet (6,096 metres) while Bounty was drilled to a depth of 16,000 feet (4,877 metres),” it explained.

Shell said it now looked forward to the delivery of the four-well development project in Block 22 and NCMA 4, known as the Colibri Project.

This is a joint venture with Heritage Petroleum Co., the emerging Trinidad and Tobago oil and gas company, with first gas from Colibri expected in 2022.