BHP Billiton reports LeClerc find details off Trinidad and Tobago

BHP Billiton Ltd.’s LeClerc discovery, drilled in the deep water offshore Trinidad and Tobago, has found 4-5 tcf of natural gas, according to the Caribbean twin-island nation’s Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Franklyn Khan.

“Trinidad and Tobago is a mature province on the continental shelf and therefore we do not expect huge finds…but in the deep water where we have not yet explored, we are expecting large finds,” Khan said.

Earlier this year BHP reported making its LeClerc discovery but never revealed the find’s size (OGJ Online, Jan. 25, 2017).

Geraldine Slattery, BHP’s asset president, conventional, told the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference that the discovery was the first in the Caribbean’s deep water. “We are very encouraged by the large potential gas resource found in the LeClerc on Block 5 with gas penetrating multiple horizons,” she said.

“We are currently evaluating recoverable gas volume as well as conditions both above and below ground necessary to support the further appraisal of that potential,” Slattery said. “We were also very pleased to have oil shows in the deep of that well—a strong indication of a liquid hydrocarbon system which supports prospectivity for oil in the southern play.”

Royal Dutch Shell PLC is BHP’s partner in LeClerc, and the company told the media that it wants to produce deepwater gas from the discovery by 2026. Derek Hudson, the company’s country manager, said the plan was to bring on LeClerc to drive the future gas development in Trinidad and Tobago.

Hudson said BHP and Shell will be returning to LeClerc to drill extension wells to further appraise the size of the discovery but is clear it can be produced within the next decade.

BHP Billiton is expected in 2018 to drill two more exploration wells in the deep water offshore Trinidad and Tobago.