Tobago Trough 3D survey to investigate untapped gas resources

Aug. 23, 2022
The government of Trinidad and Tobago has approved Searcher Seismic’s 6,500-sq-km Tobago Trough 3D acquisition project.

Offshore staff

SOUTH PERTH, Australia — The government of Trinidad and Tobago has approved Searcher Seismic’s 6,500-sq-km Tobago Trough 3D acquisition project.

The location is off the north coast of Tobago, and the Tobago Trough is a tertiary basin with shallow marine sandstones containing large gas reservoirs.

Exploration and appraisal in the late 1990s led to development of the North Coast Marine Area (NCMA) gas fields (Hibiscus, Poincettia and Chaconia), with the gas exported via Trinidad and Tobago’s Atlantic LNG infrastructure.

According to Searcher, subsequent development of the shore-face sand reservoirs was also successful, but there has been scant exploration in the Tobago Trough to backfill these now produced reserves.

The 2D seismic acquired over the basin indicates the presence of additional sequence stratigraphically controlled shoreface, channels and pro-delta fans in stratigraphic and structural stacked traps. But 3D data are needed to help delineate and explore these targets.

Exploring the area further could provide future development options for Trinidad and Tobago’s LNG infrastructure to increase LNG production for the growing global market, Searcher said.

The company plans a 6,500-sq-km wide-tow long streamer acquisition, processed through to prestack depth migration. Acquisition is scheduled for first-quarter 2023, with the dataset to be available in fourth-quarter 2023 in time for the next Deep Water Licensing Round.

08.23.2022