Australian explorer Woodside Energy has returned its TTDAA 5 block, which it held in joint venture with Shell, back to the government following an appraisal of the Victoria discovery could not prove up positive economics for a potential development. Woodside cited the high costs associated with a deepwater project as one reason for the move.
Woodside held a 65% working interest in the block. Shell held the remaining 35%. Woodside got into the Trinidad and Tobago offshore oil patch in 2013 and in 2018 encountered gas with its Victoria-1 well.
Woodside is continuing to study its other deepwater operations in the area, chiefly blocks 23A and TTDAA 14, in which it made its Calypso discovery. Calypso has an estimated recoverable resource of 3.2 Tcf of natural gas.