“The new facility has been commissioned on a rapid schedule, just 40 months after the discovery of crude oil at the Kairi-1 exploration well in 2001,” BHP Billiton said. Initial oil production is expected to be around 60,000 barrels of oil per day (gross).

The bulk of the produced gas is being re-injected into the Angostura reservoirs to support oil production and a portion is being used to fuel operations on the processing platform. In the second phase of the project, Angostura’s significant gas resources will be commercialised, the company said.

BHP Billiton holds 45% equity interest and is the operator of the Angostura development. The other partners in the Block 2C development are Total (30%) and Talisman Energy (25%), said BHP Billiton Energy Group president Philip Aiken.

“Five years ago this area was a frontier for oil exploration and our presence in Trinidad and Tobago comprised only a handful of employees,” Aiken said.

“Today, we employ a staff of more than 160 in Port of Spain, offshore at the production platform and at the onshore storage facility. This development has opened a new area for petroleum exploration in Trinidad and Tobago and we are confident that further exploration can produce future success for the country and the company.”

The Angostura production infrastructure includes a central processing platform (CPP) with three satellite wellhead protector platforms.

A pipeline connects the CPP to newly constructed storage facilities at Guayaguayare, where an export pipeline has been installed to allow for offloading to tankers in Guayaguayare Bay. The offshore production facilities are located 38.5km off the east coast of Trinidad in water 40m deep.

During 2005, BHP Billiton’s Trinidad and Tobago work program will include an exploratory drilling program on Block 3(a), adjacent to the acreage comprising the Angostura fields, and on Block 2(c) retention acreage, south of the newly producing fields.