Bayfield Energy brings Trintes field into oil production

Bayfield Energy Holdings, an English oil exploration company, says that has brought its Trintes field off the coast of Trinidad into  production achieving a stabilised rate of 536 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and raising output to more than 2,300 barrels a day. The Trintes field is located in the Galeota Block off the south-east coast of Trinidad, for which Bayfield Energy has a 25-year exploration licence.The Trintes field was discovered in 1963 and started production nine years later.

The goal of the Ministry of Energy is to raise T&T’s oil production to 100,000 barrels of oil per day in the short term. In a statement issued on Friday, Bayfield Energy said: “This well confirms the production potential of the M Sand in the south-west part of the field where three further development wells are planned to be drilled this year.

“Following the completion of B3, Rig #2 will undertake a programme of workovers to replace pumps on six production wells on Bravo platform. The programme is targeted at achieving additional incremental production of 250-300 bopd and is also expected to increase the reliability of these wells by eliminating all dependence on ageing hydraulic powered oil pump systems. “The latest reported production rate from the Trintes field has now increased to over 2,300 bopd.”

The oil and gas company, which has assets in Trinidad & Tobago and South Africa, listed in London last July, raising £54m. It was created by the founders of Burren Energy, an independent oil and gas producer that had a market capitalisation of £175m when it was floated in London in 2003, and was eventually sold to the Italian oil group ENI in 2008 for £1.7bn.

Finian O’Sullivan, Burren’s founder and president, is Bayfield’s chairman, and Hywel John, the chief executive, is another Burren veteran. Mr O’Sullivan is also a major shareholder in the company, alongside BlackRock, according to a story in the Financial Times. Bayfield drilled two new wells on the Trintes field in 2011 which allowed production to increase to 1,700 b/d by January 2012, up from 1,200 b/d in 2011.

Bayfield’s shares were priced at 60p at the time of the IPO, but have slipped since then, reflecting a broader falling-off in risk appetite among investors. The Financial Times reported that Bayfield Energy is now looking at a range of financing options, including selling down its stake in the Galeota Block, forming a joint venture or selling itself to a larger company.