The field, located in shallow water approximately 40km off the coast of Trinidad, is estimated to contain 160 million barrels of oil and 1.75 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The first phase involves engineering, construction and installation of production and transportation facilities required for oil recovery from the field. The development will consist of three satellite wellhead protector platforms that will be connected to a steel jacket central production platform via flowlines.

BHPB said it would pursue an "aggressive schedule" to have first oil flowing from the field, estimated to have a production life of 19 to 24 years, by the end of 2004.

BHPB has a 45% interest and is the operator of Block 2(c) in which Greater Angostura is located. Other partners in the field include TotalFinaElf (30%) and Talisman Energy (25%).