Venezuela and neighboring Trinidad and Tobago have signed an agreement that will enable both countries to develop the Manakin-Cocuina natural gas fields along their shared maritime border.
The fields have been known to exist since 1983 when Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and Statoil ASA drilled the Coquina well, which discovered shallow-pay reserves across the border. It is matched on the Trinidad and Tobago side by BP Trinidad & Tobago’s Manikin-1 discovery on Block 5b.
It is part of the Plataforma Del Tana area—thought to contain more than 30 tcf of gas—which is shared between the two countries.
Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela share several fields that share maritime borders.
On Block 1, PDVSA drilled its Dorado 1 well, which is said to have discovered a structure containing 1.5 tcf of gas. This is matched on the Trinidad and Tobago side by BPTT’s Kapok field, which is an amalgamation of three finds: Sparrow, Renegade, and Parang, believed to contain more than 4 tcf of gas.
On Block 2, where the Loran well was drilled in 1982, the border is shared on the Trinidad and Tobago side with Manatee field. That field has 10 tcf of gas—2.7 tcf on Trinidad and Tobago’s side and 7.3 tcf on Venezuela’s side.
Both countries also reported making significant progress on the development of the 10 tcf of gas in the Loran-Manatee field.