Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 03 2023

LatAmOil TRINIDAD & TOBAGO LatAmOil

Trinidad and Tobago receives 16 bids

for 8 onshore and near-shore blocks

TRINIDAD and Tobago’s Ministry of Energy According to Minister of Energy and Energy
and Energy Industries (MEEI) said last week Industries Stuart Young, Port of Spain will use
that it had received bids for eight of the 11 blocks a point system to evaluate the 16 bids it has
included in the onshore and near-shore bidding received in the current bidding round. Under
round launched last year. that system, he said, MEEI will consider the
In a statement, MEEI reported that potential minimum work exploration programme pro-
investors had submitted a total of 16 offers in posed for each block.
the bidding contest, which closed on January 9. These programmes, he said, will include geo-
Onshore blocks drew only four of these offers, physical commitments, which typically involve
with Eco Oil and Gas Solutions Ltd (Trinidad acquisition and/or reprocessing of seismic data;
and Tobago), Primera Oil and Gas Ltd (a sub- drilling, which awards points on the basis of
sidiary of Canada’s Touchstone Exploration) cumulative footage; and geophysical and geo-
and Challenger Energy Group (UK) bidding logical studies.
for Guayaguayare and Hunter Resources Corp. Meanwhile, Young noted, the government of
bidding for South West Peninsula. Trinidad and Tobago is also gearing up to launch
The remaining 12 offers went to near-shore its next bidding round in the third quarter of
blocks. The most popular of these was St. Marys, 2023. These auctions, which will be known as
which attracted bids from A&V Oil & Gas Ltd the Shallow Water Competitive Bid Round, will
(Trinidad and Tobago), Decker Petroleum & include more than 20 offshore blocks. ™
Marketing Co. Ltd (Trinidad and Tobago),
Hunter Resources Corp. and Primera Oil and
Gas Ltd. Meanwhile, both Tulsa and Cipero
attracted bids from Eco Oil and Gas Solutions
Ltd and Primera Oil and Gas Ltd, while Buenos
Ayres attracted bids from Hunter Resources
Corp. and Trinity Exploration and Production
T&T Ltd (Trinidad and Tobago). Charuma only
attracted one bid from Primera Oil and Gas Ltd.,
while Aripero only attracted one bid from NABI
Construction (Guyana).
The three blocks that did not draw any offers
were Cory D and Cory F among the onshore
fields and South West Peninsula among the
near-shore fields, MEEI said.
It added that it hoped to announce the out-
come of the other eight auctions in about three The bidding round included 11 onshore and near-shore blocks (Image: MEEI)
months.

COLOMBIA
Ecopetrol launches $2bn bond issue

COLOMBIA’S national oil company (NOC) In October 2021, by contrast, the company sold
Ecopetrol has paid a premium to return to the benchmark bonds at a spread of 307 basis points.
global bond market for the first time since the Ecopetrol is one of many emerging market
fourth quarter of 2021. borrowers to face rising rates. Colombia in par-
Sources familiar with the matter told ticular has been compelled to pay a premium for
Bloomberg last week that the state-owned credit since losing its investment grade in 2021,
firmed had sold $2bn worth of 10-year, US and the extra costs have only risen since the left-
dollar-denominated notes with a coupon of ist candidate Gustavo Petro was elected to the
approximately 9% at a spread of 539 basis points. presidency last year.

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