Trinidad’s principal crude producer readying offshore work

Trinidad and Tobago state-owned upstream operator Heritage Petroleum plans to begin offshore data acquisition next month.

The company, which is the country’s top oil contributor, has submitted an environmental clearance certificate application to the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) for work in the southwest and west Soldado fields.

The project entails a 2D shallow hazards seismic survey across five areas this year and another five in 2025.

The acquistion will take around two days at each area which measure roughly 1.25km x 0.95km.

Energy ministry data shows that Heritage accounted for 68% of the 50,246b/d of crude and condensate produced in January-April.

Fitch recently affirmed Heritage’s long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings at ‘BB’ and assessed the standalone credit profile at ‘b+’, due to the company’s strategic importance.

The ratings agency highlighted the operator’s “aggressive” growth campaigns which Fitch expects will allow Heritage to continue to replace reserves at 100%.

Moody’s and S&P Global also have maintained their respective ‘Ba3’ and ‘BB’ ratings for Heritage.

Also read Heritage Commissions New Offshore Oil Well S-938