Calgary-based Touchstone Exploration Inc. has officially announced the commencement of production at its Cascadura natural gas and liquids facility in Trinidad. This announcement heralds a significant transition for Touchstone, pivoting the company’s operations to be more natural gas-centric.
The Cascadura field, in the Ortoire block onshore in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, sees Touchstone holding an 80% operating working interest. The remaining 20% is held by Heritage Petroleum Company Limited. Production from this field began on September 6, 2023, and there are plans to amplify the natural gas production from Cascadura-1ST1 and Cascadura Deep-1 wells to 60 MMcf/d (10,000 boe/d) along with associated natural gas liquids in the upcoming weeks.
Intricacies of the facility showcase a self-reliant system that ensures all natural gas from separators and liquids storage tanks are recycled to amplify sales volumes. Further setting it apart is the facility’s ability to self-sustain its power needs through onsite solar systems and natural gas generators. It operates independently of the Trinidad power grid.
After a year of construction, utilizing around 110,000 work hours and employing Trinidadian contractors and fabrication facilities, the facility boasts a gross production capacity of 200 MMcf/d and 5,000 bbls/d of associated liquids. Notably, throughout its construction and commissioning, the Cascadura project maintained an impeccable safety record, witnessing no lost time injuries.
For transportation needs, natural gas volumes are channeled through a 20-inch pipeline managed by The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) and then sold to NGC based on a sales agreement from December 2020. The condensate volumes, on the other hand, will be routed via tanker trucks to Touchstone’s Barrackpore liquids sales facility and sold to Heritage as per a recent agreement from September 1, 2023.
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Touchstone’s CEO, Paul Baay, expressed elation: “The commencement of production from Cascadura marks the most significant milestone to date in the Touchstone journey, transitioning us to a majority natural gas weighted production company. Our fixed price natural gas agreement will deliver a significantly increased predictable cashflow stream to be reinvested in the future development of our extensive Trinidad asset base.”
Highlighting future prospects, Baay added, “Cascadura represents the second producing area on our Ortoire block, where we have multiple defined development prospects, alongside a significant pipeline of long-term exploration prospects. We would like to thank our partners and contractors for their support and attention to safety during the facility construction and commissioning process. Our team will now focus on optimising Cascadura production and planning a future drilling program to fill our existing Coho and Cascadura facilities.”
