The country's second largest gas producer and the largest company to bid on the 2010 shallow water bid round failed to secure a block. BGTT has failed in its bid for Block 5 (d) after the Ministry of Energy determined that its bid, "did not meet the benchmark." Director of Resource Management at the Ministry of Energy Helena Innis-King told the Business Guardian that there were set criteria and BGTT did not meet those criteria. She said: "While I am not in a position to say what the criteria were, the fact is that we felt that the bid did not meet our benchmark and as a result we have decided that we will not award the block but would keep the block in the Ministry of Energy where it can go out for bid sometime in the future."
BGTT has not had a very successful track record in bidding and being first time explorers in blocks in Trinidad and Tobago. The company has tended to buy into reserves in Trinidad, including their North Coast Marine Area, which they got when they acquired the world wide assets of Tenneco. It bought part of Block 5 (c) from Canada Superior and it also bought into the Central Block where it is now producing natural gas for domestic consumption. BG's Manatee well was drilled only after the Loran field was discovered in Venezuela with seismic showing that the hydrocarbons had extended into Trinidad. BGTT then drilled a well to confirm the extension. The biggest winner in the 2010 shallow water bid round was Voyager Energy which was awarded all of the three blocks that it bid on.
Voyager Energy, which is a junior oil and gas exploration, development and production company based in Canada, was awarded Block 4(b) and NCMA 3 in its own right and and NCMA 2 which was awarded to Voyager in partnership with RWE Dea AG. With the addition of the three blocks, Voyager, and its Canadian parent, have become the fastest growing energy companies operating in T&T. Earlier this year, Voyager Energy entered into an agreement with Niko Resources whereby Niko acquired all of the outstanding shares of Voyager for about US$38 million. Niko Resources is an international oil and natural gas exploration and production company with its head office located in Calgary, Canada. Niko has operations in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kurdistan Iraq, Madagascar, Pakistan and Trinidad.
Voyager and Niko Resources are partners on Block 2 (ab) in Trinidad while Voyager holds interests in the Shallow and Deep Horizon Central Range Blocks and the Shallow and Deep Horizon Guayaguayare Blocks in Trinidad. RWE Dea AG is new to T&T and is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. It is an international exploration and production operator. RWE Dea has stakes in production facilities and concessions in Germany, the UK, Norway, Denmark and Egypt and holds exploration concessions in Algeria, Ireland, Libya, Mauretania, Morocco, Poland and Turkmenistan. Moreover, in Germany, RWE Dea also operates large subterranean storage facilities for natural gas.
RWE Dea is part of the RWE Group, one of Europe's five leading electricity and gas companies. Centrica Energy was the only other company to have won a block. It was awarded NCMA 4. Mrs Innis-King said she expected that the Production Sharing Contracts will be signed within the next month because all the companies signed a schedule to the competitive bidding order indicating that they accepted the PSC without reservation and in those circumstances she did not expect long drawn out negotiations.
Here is the list of the blocks:
1. The award of Production Sharing Contract to Voyager Energy (Tdad) Ltd and RWE Dea AG in respect of NCMA 2.
2.The award of a Production Sharing Contract to Voyager Energy Trinidad (Ltd)for NCMA 3.
3.The award of a Production Sharing Contract to Centrica Energy for NCMA 4.
4.No award has been made in respect of the bid by Gulf Central for North Marine.
5.The award of Production Sharing Contract to Voyager Energy (Trinidad) Ltd for Block 4(b).
6.No award has been made in respect of the bid by BG International for Block 5(d).