FOR the first quarter of 2024, Woodside Energy’s oil production in Trinidad and Tobago fell by 56% compared to the previous quarter, according to the latest figures released this week by the Australian company.
Additionally, its natural gas production also experienced a 10% drop for the same period.
In its financial report for the first quarter of 2024, Woodside said it produced a total of 126,000 barrels of oil in T&T.
This is less than half of what it produced in the last quarter of 2023 when its output was 284,000 barrels.
For the first quarter of 2023, Woodside produced 297,000 barrels.
This means that daily crude production from Woodside averaged 1,384 barrels of oil per day (bo/d) in the first quarter of 2024, down from 3,120 bo/d in the fourth quarter of 2023 and 3,193 bo/d in the first quarter of last year.
To raise its production Woodside said it executed production optimization projects to maximize field recovery in Trinidad and Tobago with an additional injector to the producer well conversion that was completed in February.
Oil production is an important part of the Government’s revenue and the amount of money the Minister of Finance gets from the sector is determined by both the price of crude oil and the amount of oil produced.
For the first half of the financial year, oil prices have averaged below the US $85 a barrel projected by Finance Minister Colm Imbert and with lower crude oil production it is going to hurt the country’s revenue position further.
The latest oil and gas production figures from the Energy Ministry are up to November 2023.
Woodside’s quarterly report also showed that its natural gas production in T&T fell by almost 10% in the first quarter when compared to the last quarter in 2023.
For the first quarter, its natural gas production was 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) compared to 2.78 million boe for the fourth quarter of 2023.
Woodside’s natural gas production has been crucial to T&T’s overall gas output.
Regarding its Calypso deepwater gas field, which Woodside aims to develop in collaboration with BP, CEO Meg O’Neill emphasized in March to international media the necessity for additional Government incentives.
The company is now reporting some progress in these discussions.
The report stated that Woodside progressed the pre-FEED engineering studies to refine the technical definition of the deepwater infield host and advanced marketing and commercial discussions to assess monetization options.
The company also said it had begun discussions on access to the Atlantic LNG facility (ALNG) following the completion of the ALNG restructuring negotiations between the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and ALNG equity shareholders in December 2023.
Under the new arrangement, third parties that are not shareholders of Atlantic LNG can access the liquefaction facilities, with the limitation removed on access only to shareholders.
The access was implemented as part of an effort to encourage exploration by non-Atlantic shareholders, aiming to facilitate the advancement of projects like Calypso and expand beyond the domestic petrochemicals market.
Woodside group reported quarterly revenue of US$2,969 million which was down by 12% from its fourth quarter of 2023 primarily due to a mix of lower realized prices and lower volumes.
