Exploration/discoveries

Trinidad and Tobago Announce Drilling of BHP Broadside Well

The Broadside exploration well in Block TTDAA 3 within BHP’s Southern Deepwater Acreage was drilled in September.

Map and flag of Trinidad and Tobago
Pawel Gaul/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) announced the drilling of the Broadside exploration well in Block TTDAA 3 within BHP’s Southern Deepwater Acreage in September.

Once it encounters its first target at a measured depth of 20,537 ft, the well may be deepened to test two further targets. If executed, the well will be the deepest ever drilled in T&T, exceeding 20,000-ft total vertical depth below the mudline.

The well will test the oil play within the Southern Deepwater blocks, which include TTDAA 3, 5, and 6. If the finds of the Broadside well are promising, further exploratory drilling may be planned in nearby blocks.

To date, BHP’s proven reserves stand in the range of 3.5–5 Tcf, with probable reserves of 1.5 Tcf.

BHP has applied to the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries to enter the market-development phase for deepwater Blocks 23(a) and TTDAA 14. If found to be economic, first gas could be as early as 2026.

Drilling in BHP’s shallow-water Ruby oil and gas field development is expected in Q4 2020. Scheduled to come on stream in November 2021, peak production is expected to be 16,000 BOPD and 80 MMcf/D of gas. Estimated recoverable resources are 13.2 million bbl of oil and 274 Bcf of natural gas.