BP’s project on track for first gas in 2025 as Seven Seas preps for action

BP Trinidad and Tobago (bpTT), a subsidiary of the UK-based energy giant BP, is moving forward with activities required to bring on stream a subsea gas development project located off the southeast coast of Trinidad and Tobago. The current progress indicates that the firm will meet its timeline for the first gas from the project next year as a pipe-laying vessel gets ready for subsea installation work.

Following a decision to proceed with the Cypre gas development in September 2022, BP hired Subsea Integration Alliance, a partnership between Subsea 7 and OneSubsea, in November 2022 to support the development, with drilling activities expected to kick off in 2023. Due to a delay, the drilling on the first of seven wells began in February 2024.

Recently, Stuart R. Young, the country’s Minister of Energy and Energy Industries; David Campbell, President of bpTT; Paul Stern, Projects General Manager of bpTT; and Giselle Thompson, Vice President of Communications and External Affairs at bpTT, toured Subsea7’s Seven Seas construction/flex-lay vessel, which is currently supporting the development of the Cypre project in Trinidad and Tobago.

This pipe-laying vessel, which is docked at the ChagTerms dock, Chaguaramas is undertaking ‘transpooling’ activity concerning subsea infrastructure installation that will connect gas from the Cypre field to bpTT’s Juniper platform off Trinidad’s southeast coast. 

Giselle Thompson, VP of Corporate Operations at BP Trinidad and Tobago, commented: “Yesterday, I had the privilege of visiting the Seven Seas vessel at ChagTerms alongside the Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Stuart Young SC M.P. The Seven Seas will be installing the flexible flow lines that connect the Cypre subsea infrastructure to our Juniper platform, all in preparation for bringing more gas to market in 2025.

“It was great to see first hand the subsea technologies and materials utilized in our subsea developments and even more rewarding to see the many nationals who have the opportunity to work on the project. It was great to meet three cadets who are currently enrolled in UTT’s diploma in maritime operations who will receive practical training on-board the vessel, an important part of their certification.”

According to the Ministry of Energy and Energy Resources, Minister Young also commended the strong representation of Trinidad and Tobago’s maritime industry and local content on-board the vessel, explaining the government will continue to work with energy sector stakeholders to create opportunities to build local capacity and drive Trinidad and Tobago’s international competitiveness.

In addition, Minister Young noted that the progress in operations was a direct result of discussions that took place in 2022 when Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and the country’s Energy Minister met with Bernard Looney, who was BP’s CEO then, and bpTT’s President in London to secure the project’s final investment decision (FID). 

The Cypre project, which will become bpTT’s third subsea development in Trinidad and Tobago, will include seven wells and subsea trees tied back into the firm’s existing Juniper platform. The development is expected to capitalize on the existing subsea enabling infrastructure at Juniper, allowing gas to be brought to market quicker than a normally unmanned installation (NUI) development.

Moreover, the new Cypre development will access power from Juniper, eliminating the need for additional power generation, which allows production to be supplemented without increasing the operator’s operating emissions. At peak, the development is expected to deliver an average gas production of 250-300 million standard cubic feet a day (mmscfd). BP hired Aquaterra Energy to work on the Cypre project in May 2023.

Located 78 kilometers off the southeast coast of Trinidad within the East Mayaro Block, the Cypre project will include seven wells and subsea trees tied back into BP’s existing Juniper platform via two new 14-kilometer flexible flowlines.

The ongoing energy security concerns are not a new trend, as fears of energy shortages and declining fossil fuel production were among the key factors that prompted the global diversification of energy sources, opening the doors to explore new power sources to enrich the energy mix.

The decline in production is something Trinidad and Tobago is also experiencing, as elaborated by Kevin Ramnarine, Former Energy Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, who highlighted: “In June 2024 there were shutdowns offshore that took some production offline temporarily. This is not to dismiss long standing concerns about the decline in natural gas production and it’s impact on the three LNG trains and plants at Point Lisas.

“The three trains are operating well below their capacity at or under 65%. For 2024, using data publicly available, natural gas production averaged 2.48 billion cubic feet per day for the first six months of 2024.”

While oil and gas still dominate on the energy scene, as the duo and its derivates provide most of the world’s energy, the climate change woes have turned the search for further hydrocarbons into a challenging endeavor, especially in some regions, although this is still not the case in Trinidad and Tobago.

Ramnarine continued: “For the corresponding period in 2023, the average production was 2.64 billion cubic feet per day. This trend of decline will continue in 2025 to 2027. New projects such as BP Cypre and EOG Mento will merely act as backfill for lost production.

“This is not to diminish their importance. By 2028, subject to Shell Manatee realizing it’s production targets, there should be a marginal reversal in production to around 2.7 to 2.8 billion cubic feet per day. This is positive but there is no ‘third boom’ coming. As for Venezuelan natural gas, that remains fraught with uncertainty.”