BP kicks off production from Juniper project

Oil giant BP has started gas production from its Juniper project in Trinidad, which is the company’s fifth major upstream project, and second in Trinidad, to start-up in 2017.

The project is expected to boost BP Trinidad and Tobago’s gas production capacity by an estimated 590 million standard cubic feet a day (mmscfd), the company informed on Monday.

With an investment of approximately $2 billion, Juniper is BP’s first subsea field development in Trinidad. It produces gas from the Corallita and Lantana fields via the new Juniper platform, 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the south-east coast of Trinidad in water approximately 110 metres deep. The gas then flows to the Mahogany B hub via a new ten-kilometer flowline that was installed in 2016.

Bernard Looney, chief executive of BP’s Upstream business, said: “Delivered on schedule and under budget, Juniper is a major milestone in BP’s more than 50 years of investment in Trinidad and Tobago. It is the largest new project brought into production in Trinidad for several years and the second major project we have started here this year. Together they represent a significant portion of the new production capacity we expect to bring online in 2017.”

Another major project in Trinidad, the Trinidad Onshore Compression project, began operations in April. In June, BPTT announced that it had sanctioned development of the Angelin gas field, which is expected to start production in late 2019. BPTT also announced two gas discoveries which may support future developments offshore Trinidad.

“The safe start-up of production from Juniper is a proud moment for BPTT, and further demonstrates our commitment to helping improve production capacity for Trinidad and Tobago,” said Norman Christie, BPTT’s regional president. “We thank the Government, our contractors and the hundreds of team members across the globe that worked to safely bring Juniper on to production.”

Juniper is BPTT’s 14th offshore platform in Trinidad and its sixth to be constructed at the fabrication yard in La Brea, Trinidad.