Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine, Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali, Energy Chamber chief executive officer Thackwray Driver and Bayfield officials unanimously "welcomed" the merger of small energy companies San Fernando-based Trinity Exploration and Production, and Bayfield Energy Holdings plc when contacted by the Business Guardian on Tuesday.
Once the operation is complete, "New Trinity" will become T&T's first listing on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market better known by its acronym AIM.
Asked for his comment on the reverse takeover, Ramnarine on Tuesday said, "Trinity is a very ambitious oil company. It is led by ambitious and entrepreneurial people. That is the kind of thinking we need to take the oil industry to the next level."
On May 1, 2009, a licence was issued by the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs (MEEA) to Petrotrin and Bayfield to undertake joint petroleum operations in the Galeota field, with Petrotrin retaining a 35 per cent interest in the property, Hassanali said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. He said that "in the intervening period, Bayfield, as operator for the field, pursued an aggressive, agreed work programme on behalf of the joint venture, inclusive of offshore platform refurbishments, well workovers and short and extended reach sidetracks on existing platform wells."
This programme of development works, he said, "resulted in production increasing from 700 barrels of oil per day (bopdD), at the time of execution of the joint licence, to 2000 bopd at the current time."
In addition, Bayfield undertook on behalf of the joint venture a robust exploration programme, inclusive of the acquisition of 3D seismic data during 2011, which resulted in the drilling of two explorations wells, EG-7 and EG-8, with EG-8 proving up reserves of 32 million barrels of oil and 69 billion cubic feet of gas, he said.
He said, "Consistent with the licence and joint venture contractual terms, Petrotrin is amenable to working with Bayfield and any partners Bayfield may seek to ensure the continued aggressive work programme towards realisation of Petrotrin's and the national mandate of increasing domestic crude oil production volumes in the shortest possible time."
Energy Chamber CEO Driver welcomed the development, saying, "We've seen a lot of mergers-acquisitions within the lease-out/farm-out and independent sector in T&T over the past two years."
He said it is good to see and it is shows there is investor interest in Trinidad in the traditional oil sector.
Driver said it is pleasing to see a T&T company get listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM.
"It's a great way of raising capital from the international capital markets. It gives them (T&T companies) access to that international investor community."
Asked if Bayfield's licence in South Africa also passes to Trinity, London-based Bayfield spokesperson Patrick d'Ancona said, "I don't know whether Bayfield will maintain its London office. I can't tell you what decision has been taken on that, but I can tell you the San Fernando office will continue."
Asked about what happens to Bayfield staff, d'Ancona said he would not want to comment on that as yet.
"I wouldn't want to comment on that at this point. When we pass the merging process, we will obviously decide on the structures, the operating business going forward."
Asked how many staff Bayfield had, he said, "I'd have to double check that for you because obviously, we have staff in Trinidad and we have staff in London."
The release announcing the merger mentioned that Trinity has about 200 staff but no mention is made of Bayfield's staff complement. Sources say Bayfield has only about 40 staff, but about 200 more people, through sub-contractors, rely on the company for employment.
Financials
For the year ended December 31, 2011, Trinity made a profit before tax of US$13.4 million on turnover of US$53.9 million. As at December 31, 2011, Trinity had net assets of US$55.4 million.
For the year ended December 31, 2011, Bayfield had accumulated losses of US$19.74 million, worse than its US$6.6 million loss at the end of 2010. As at December 31, 2011, Bayfield had net assets of US$132.93 million.
Asked if the new company will absorb Bayfield's liabilities as well as its assets, d'Ancona said, "I would assume so."
Trinity CEO Joel "Monty" Pemberton concurred.
Asked when the re-admission documents to get the new company trading again on the London Stock Exchange's AIM will be ready, d'Ancona said, "Both companies are working very hard to produce the re-admission documents," but could not give a date.
Bayfield country manager Dino Giannatos said he expects the re-admission documents to be submitted by the end of this quarter or the beginning of the next year.
"It's an excellent business opportunity. That's all I can say," Giannatos said.
Asked if he will now have a reporting relationship to Trinity CEO Pemberton, he said, "I'm aware of all the positions, and how we are going to organise at the end of the day is still up in the air."
He said, "It's exactly as it said in the press release package: there's a lot of work to be done between now and then."
Asked what he would say to staff, suppliers and others who depend on Bayfield, he said, "Nothing has changed at this time. Bayfield continues to operate as Bayfield and Trinity continues to operate as Trinity until readmission. Business as usual until readmission. The companies are planning to merge. There's nothing else to say at this time. That's all the clarity that's out there. There's business as usual and a couple of months from now, there'll be another announcement."
