By Ryan Hamilton-Davis

Copyright newsday

A CHINESE and a Nigerian company were among three energy companies that threw their hat into the ring for the 2025 deepwater competitive bid round.

The three companies officially shared their proposals at the close of the bid round at Tower C of the Waterfront Centre in Port of Spain, on September 17.

A consortium of STIT Energy Limited and Groundports Limited bid on TTDAA 5, while the China National Offshore Oil Corporation(CNOOC) International Limited bid on blocks TTDAA 24, TTDAA 25 and TTDAA 26.

However, oil and gas giants such as bpTT and Shell did not make bids during this round.

Speaking to reporters after the bids were placed, Minister in the Ministry of Energy Ernesto Kesar described the bid round as a success. He said the ministry was pleased to see CNOOC and other companies participate in the bid round.

“We are aware of CNOOC and their global footprint as well as STIT and Groundports. We are also pleased to see the African companies looking at our ultra-deepwater regions.”

He noted that this was the first time that CNOOC had ventured into TT in its current form. He said CNOOC had done work with a local company through one of its subsidiaries.

In his remarks, Kesar highlighted the importance of deepwater exploration but noted the challenges and risks that come with it. “The deepwater area is currently the most important domain for global oil and gas exploration and discovery,” he said.

Deepwater exploration has the potential for the discovery of large and high-quality reservoirs and is estimated to hold 30 per cent of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas reserves.”

“Deepwater exploration is costly. However, advances in technology have made deepwater exploration feasible and viable.”

He explained that TT was in tight competition for investment by only a few major players with the capacity to explore and acquire the resources in the deepwater region.

He also noted that new partners in the upstream sector could be beneficial to TT, pointing out that with the exception of the recent deal with EXXON which will see the company spend about US$42.5 million (TT$288 million) in its first phase of an exploration and production project in TTs deepwater region, no new upstream partners have entered into TT’s energy sector for decades.

“One of the key goals of this bid round was to encourage new participants in the TT upstream sector and this aim has been successfully met,” Kesar said.

National Offshore Oil Corporation, the largest offshore oil and gas producer in China, was established as a state-owned mega company with the approval of the State Council on February 15, 1982.

Its main business covers oil and gas exploration and development, professional technical services, refining product sales and fertilisers, natural gas production and power generation and financial services

It has also entered into new energy markets such as offshore wind power.

The company was ranked 56th in 2024 Fortune Global 500. The main business performance remains at the forefront of Central Enterprises, and was rated as A-level by the SASAC for 21 consecutive years.