SYDNEY MORNING HERALD - DECEMBER 14 2013 ……several companies including BHP have had modest exposures to Trinidad for more than a decade. Its ranking in BHPs global portfolio has never been significant enough to warrant its own accounting line item, with its contribution usually grouped with minnows such as Pakistan and Algeria under the inglorious title Other. So there was a degree of surprise this week when BHP executives suddenly started describing Trinidad as unique, very exciting and capable of becoming the petroleum divisions third core area beside the US and Australia. So whats changed? Until recently, the fiscal terms on offer in Trinidad did not allow us to make a satisfactory return on the risk of undertaking a deep water exploration program, explained BHPs petroleum exploration president. Others clearly felt the same because during the last decade a number of bid rounds (for offshore acreage) were held and nobody came, nobody participated. With an economy dominated by oil and gas, Trinidad has traditionally sought to keep a significant finger in the corporate pies that have scouted its territory for oil and gas. Commercial producers typically had to strike petroleum sharing contracts with the government, and consensus among the companies was that contracts were weighted too far in the governments favour. capital expenditure, Mr Landau said. But the government clearly got the message, and over the past year it has launched a range of initiatives to lure companies back. SYDNEY MORNING HERALD DECEMBER 13 2013
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 19:54:18 +0000
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