Venezuela’s government has awarded bp and the National Gas Co. of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC) an exploration and production license for the development of the Cocuina gas discovery.
Cocuina is part of the Manakin-Cocuina gas field that overlaps Venezuelan and Trinidadian waters.
bp already operates the Manakin Field on the Trinidad. Holding licenses and operatorship for both fields, however, will simplify the joint development plan, the company said. The partners plan to connect the resources to existing gas infrastructure in Trinidad.
David Campbell, bpTT president, said, “The award of the license would not have been possible without the significant diplomatic efforts by the government of Trinidad and Tobago and their leadership in driving strong collaboration between bp, the National Gas Company and the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.”
Manakin-Cocuina lies about 68 miles offshore Trinidad’s southeast coast. Cocuina Field was discovered in 1983, followed by Manakin in 2000. The Cocuina-1X well offshore Venezuela in Block 4 of the Plataforma Deltana area was spudded by then-operator Statoil in 2006.
In 2015, the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela signed a unitization agreement for the joint exploitation and development of the hydrocarbon reservoirs of the fields. Development of the discovered gas resources in the Manakin-Cocuina Field is an important part of bp’s longer term development plan for its Trinidad gas business, the company said.
On May 28 this year, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) granted a license to the government of Trinidad and Tobago to enable parties involved with the cross-border project to proceed with joint development plans for the fields.
The license allows development planning to progress while US sanctions on Venezuela remain in place, and for the involvement of US staff. bp is listed as a party in the OFAC license.
bp will hold 80% equity in the Cocuina Field with NGC holding 20%. Within the unitized Manakin-Cocuina Field, 66% of the discovered gas resources have been allocated to Trinidad (Manakin) and 34% to Venezuela (Cocuina).
Elsewhere in Trinidad, construction continues at La Brea of the 12-slot, manned Mento platform that will be installed in acreage jointly licensed by bpTT and EOG offshore Trinidad’s southeast coast. They expect first gas in 2025.
Work is also progressing on bp’s offshore Cypre development, and the company has sanctioned the Coconut gas project.
