Bayfield Energy: Galeota find will take up to 5 years to develop

 

Oil company Bayfield Energy, which announced earlier this month its discovery of 32 million barrels of oil and 69 billion standard cubic feet of gas in the Galeota Block, now says it will take between three to five years to develop any find from the field. In an e-mail response on Tuesday to questions from the Business Guardian, Bayfield Energy wrote: “Reasonable timeframe for development of oil accumulations of this size and location would be 3 to 5 years. We will look for opportunities to allow for accelerated development.” According to Bayfield Energy, the length of time it will take to bring oil to the surface is due to the fact that there is limited infrastructure in the area and the need to do things like front end engineering designs for the infrastructure. “There are some economies of scale with the limited infrastructure in the Trintees field, but that infrastructure is aging and we will have to build new infrastructure for this development.” Bayfield Energy told the Business Guardian.

 

 

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had told journalists that the Government intended to use part of the additional revenue it expects from the discovery to fund its road paving programme. Her statement was made in light of protests in several communities over poor road conditions. She said no one was talking about the “major discovery,” the proceeds from which would fund road paving. This was criticised by Opposition MP Colm Imbert, who accused the Prime Minister of misleading the country, arguing that it will be years before the Government gets a cent in tax revenue from the discovery. Bayfield Energy said the initial interpretation suggests that while substantially all of the gas potential lies within its control in the Galeota Block, part of the oil potential extends into an adjacent block in which Bayfield has no participating interest. It is in that context the company said it could not give an estimated time for the drilling of any appraisal well. It said this would depend on any agreement it can reach with the licencee in the other block. The company told the Business Guardian: “The identified oil accumulation straddles the licence boundary, such that the nature and timing of any appraisal drilling will be dependent upon agreement between Bayfield and the operator of the adjacent licence.”

 

 

Bayfield Energy said it had already commenced discussion with Repsol, the other operator of the adjacent block. with a view to drilling an appraisal well. According to Bayfield Energy, the preliminary analysis of the discovery showed the vertical thickness of net hydrocarbon-bearing sands totalled 128 metres, of which 107 metres is gas and 21 metres is oil. The company is now incorporating the new data into the 3D seismic mapping to study the impact on contingent and prospective resources.  Bayfield said: “The estimated oil development potential is based upon interpretation of 3D seismic and a well test programme developed in consultation with the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs.” Bayfield is the operator of the Galeota licence area with a 65 per cent interest. Petrotrin holds the remaining 35 per cent. Bayfield’s share price increased by ten per cent on the London Stock Exchange in trading immediately following the announcement. It has now moved to the EG7 location to drill the second of Bayfield’s seven well commitments on the licence.