The Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries of Trinidad and Tobago said it plans to engage in discussions and negotiations with bpTT and Shell Trinidad and Tobago with respect to their bids for four deepwater blocks.
The Ministry said it informed them of this decision weeks ago.
The companies had formed a consortium to bid for the four blocks during the 2021 deepwater auction. When it closed in June, the auction results disappointed, with only those four blocks receiving bids out of 17 that were put on auction.
The Ministry said discussions are expected to begin in January 2023. The government statement was prompted by a Reuters article by journalist Curtis Williams, who claimed that government is prepared to reject the consortium’s bids “according to people familiar with the matter.”
Trinidad said the report was misleading.
The Ministry’s decision was delayed, as it had originally intended to announce awards just three months after the June close of the bidding period.
The consortium tendered bids for Blocks 25B, 25A, 23B and 27.
