Touchstone Exploration, an independent company based in Calgary, has moved closer to initiating exploration activities on two additional blocks in Trinidad & Tobago. This Caribbean nation is a significant focus for the London-listed company, which began gas production at its Cascadura asset there in September 2023.
Touchstone describes Cascadura as the largest onshore development in Trinidad & Tobago in decades. In the first quarter of 2024, Touchstone produced approximately 5400 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with 95% of that being natural gas.
On Tuesday, the company announced that its wholly owned Trinidadian subsidiary, Primera Oil & Gas, completed its entry into exploration and production licenses for the Cipero and Charuma onshore blocks on 1 July 2024. These blocks were awarded to Primera in 2022 following Trinidad & Tobago’s onshore and nearshore competitive bid round. Primera holds an 80% interest in the two blocks, while the National Gas Company of Trinidad & Tobago holds the remaining 20%.
The new licenses for Cipero and Charuma have initial six-year exploration terms, similar to Touchstone’s license for the 184-square-kilometer Ortoire onshore block in southeastern Trinidad. These licenses can be extended by an additional 19 years for developing areas with approved commercial discoveries by the Trinidad & Tobago Ministry of Energy & Energy Industries.
Touchstone has committed $4.8 million for exploration activities on the Charuma block and $2.2 million for the Cipero block. The exploration plan includes drilling four wells on Cipero and one well on Charuma, along with acquiring new 3D seismic data for Charuma. For Cipero, reprocessing legacy 2D seismic data is considered sufficient to identify drilling locations for the planned wells.
Primera is responsible for 100% of the exploration minimum work commitments and financial obligations during the initial six-year exploration term of the licenses, according to Touchstone.
Touchstone Exploration Inc (LON:TXP) is a Canadian-based, international upstream oil and gas company currently active in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Primera Oil and Gas is the Trinidadian subsidiary of Touchstone.
