BP to Sanction Cypre Project Off Trinidad in 2020

British oil major BP is targeting a final investment decision for the development of its Cypre project off Trinidad and Tobago for 2020.

The Cypre project’s aim is to develop the Macadamia gas discovery announced by BP back in June 2017, when BP said it had found gas at its Savannah and Macadamia wells.

The Savannah – now renamed to Matapal – has already been sanctioned, envisioning a three-well subsea tie-back to the existing Juniper platform.

With a production capacity of 400 million standard cubic feet of gas a day, first gas from Matapal is expected in 2022. As for the Cypre project, BP will not follow the Matapal route.

In a statement on Friday, BP said it has been working on the development of a new concept for future platforms being piloted for the Cypre development.

This, BP said, is expected to significantly reduce the cost of developing resources as well as reducing carbon emissions.

“The Cypre project is targeting final investment decision in 2020. If the pilot in Trinidad is successful in unlocking marginal resources, the design may have the potential to be applied in other regions worldwide,” BP said in a statement coinciding the Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s visit at BP’s head office in London last week.

BP’s Upstream chief executive Bernard Looney emphasized the company’s long-term commitment to Trinidad and Tobago during a meeting with the Prime Minister: “BP values our long-term partnership with Trinidad and Tobago. We have been the largest investor in the country’s upstream sector – investing over US$6 billion in the last five years alone – and are committed to continuing to take our business forward. In the past two years, we’ve started up three new Upstream major projects in Trinidad and recently approved the development of another two.”

BP’s regional director for Trinidad & Tobago Claire Fitzpatrick said:: “We had a fruitful meeting, discussing current issues and updating the Prime Minister on our activities over the short, medium and long term. Our exploration program, for example, will continue in 2019, as well as work on our two sanctioned projects, Cassia Compression and Matapal.”

As previously reported, BP in December 2018, sanctioned two new gas developments offshore Trinidad, Cassia Compression and Matapal. A couple of months later, in February 2019, BP produced first gas from its Angelin offshore development that had been approved for development in June 2017.

BP is the largest producer of natural gas in Trinidad and Tobago, accounting for about 55 percent of national production.