Trinidad and Tobago’s Touchstone Exploration Inc. received its Certification of Environmental Clearance (CEC) to move ahead with its Cascadura gas project from the Ortoire block offshore.
Touchstone has an 80% operating working interest in the Ortoire block, with Heritage Petroleum Company Limited holding the remaining 20% working interest.
With the CEC’s approval, Touchstone can now forward with the construction of a multi-well surface production facility with a designed production capacity of 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day; 5,000 barrels per day of associated liquids and 200 barrels per day of produced water. The facility will also have a storage capacity of 8,800 barrels of liquids on the Cascadura A wellsite.
Additionally, the CEC’s approval covers the drilling of eight wells at two well pads (Cascadura B and C) and the establishment of associated pipelines and infrastructure within the Ortoire block.
“Construction of the Cascadura surface facility and associated infrastructure required to bring on production from our two existing Cascadura wells will commence immediately, following the required notifications and conditions set out in the approved CEC,” Touchstone said in its August 16 announcement.
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And already, the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited has commenced activity in the field to begin the construction of the 1.7 kilometre, 20-inch pipeline to the Cascadura facility.
“This is a major step forward for the Cascadura project as we progress from the exploration phase to the development and production phase. It has been a thorough process, but the positive outcome now allows us to establish a clear and measurable five-year development plan for the discovery,” said Paul Baay, Touchstone’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
Baay outlined as well that the company is committed to working with local contractors for the Cascadura project.
