However, standards and frameworks must be put in place for the country to regulate the CCS industry.

This workshop will provide an overview of the world’s first set of standards for geologic storage of carbon dioxide. The standards have been developed by a bi-lateral Canada/USA Technical Committee for use in Canada and the United States. The scope and structure of the standards themselves as well as the various sections will be presented and discussed.

The workshop’s facilitators are Majid Nasehi, Director of Research and Project Management IPAC-CO 2 Research Inc. and Peter Wyant, Chief Development Officer IPAC-CO 2 Research Inc.

Majid Nasehi is currently the Director of research and project management for IPAC-CO2 Research Inc.

For the past two years he has been involved with the development of the North America’s first set of standards for the geologic storage of CO2, which has been a collaborative effort between IPAC-CO2 and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). He has been leading IPAC-CO2’s efforts in this regard and is also a member of the CSA Technical Committee responsible for drafting the standards.

Majid has also been involved in the oil and gas industry since 2004. He’s been responsible for planning of drilling operations as well as material supply, inspection, and controlling of materials for oil wells. As a researcher he’s been involved in enhanced oil recovery research, phase behaviour studies and modelling, and CO2 applications in EOR and heavy oil water flooding.

Majid is managing IPAC-CO2’s work for the government of Saskatchewan main part of which is the development of CCS guidelines for monitoring, inventory verification, and carbon credits in Saskatchewan. Currently he is also leading a research project to estimate the CO2 storage capacity in Saskatchewan including storage capacities in saline aquifers and coal beds, as well as CO2–EOR potentials in the province.

Majid has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and a Master’s degree in Petroleum Systems Engineering.

Peter Wyant is the Chief Development Officer of IPAC-CO2 Research Inc., and has been with the company since its inception in 2009. His earlier career of 34 years has been primarily in the oil and gas, and energy, industries in western Canada where he worked with private industry and with the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan. He has served in increasingly responsible positions with the Government of Saskatchewan, most recently being at the Director level in Crown Investments Corporation (CIC), the province’s holding company for its commercial Crown corporations, where his responsibilities included the carbon capture file and the development of medium and large-scale economic development opportunities in the energy sector for the province. He is currently seconded to IPAC-CO2 from CIC.

His education includes a B.Sc. (Biology) from the University of Saskatchewan (1972) and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario (1975), majoring in finance.

His paper will be entitled “Development of utility incentive programs to promote the implementation of energy efficiency projects – A US perspective”.

The presentation will examine US energy efficiency programs and discuss how various programs have been successful to move the commercial market to implement energy efficiency projects that meet the needs of the serving utility and recognize the need for financially prudent investments by the private sector.

Mr Kehrli joined Lutron Electronics in 2009 as the Director of Sales for the energy Solutions Team. His activities at Lutron involve developing programs that focus on the energy efficiency and financial impacts of lighting control systems. He works with utilities and energy service companies across the US and several countries in the Caribbean region. He also serves on the board of directors for the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories and the Northwest energy Efficiency Council.
Prior to joining Lutron, Mr Kehrli worked in the solar energy field and as a subcontractor to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
He holds a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Puget Sound and has completed the course work for a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Zamora’s unique perspective and experiences as the former leader of Colombia’s state oil regulator will bring an added dimension to the conference.

Given Trinidad and Tobago’s goal to revitalize oil production, there are several lessons that the country can learn from Colombia on attracting private sector investment into state energy enterprises to boost production.

In the past four years, Colombia has increased its oil production by 43% after undergoing a series of institutional reforms.
The country assessed its faltering production and decided to open its state oil company to private sector equity investment.

The move helped to improve corporate governance and performance.
ANH was also reformed to promote investment into the energy sector. ANH’s aggressive marketing campaigns and their interface with the investment community helped Colombia understand just what was necessary for businesses to thrive and return to the country.

The fiscal regime was also revamped, legal statutes acting as barriers to foreign businesses were amended and environmental regulations, to abet rather than hinder activity, were implemented.
These institutional, regulatory and fiscal reforms have seen a spike in production in Colombia and the Chamber feels Trinidad and Tobago can definitely learn from Colombia’s model through Mr. Zamora’s participation at the conference.

The recent oil finds in French Guiana and the active drilling campaigns in Suriname and Guyana mean that many companies and analysts around the world have their eyes on the region.

At the upcoming Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference there will be serious discussion on the potential of the Guiana Basin. A panel discussion featuring Marc Waldjeck, Managing Director, Staatsolie, Stephen Hermeston, CEO, CGX Energy Limited and Joseba Murillas, Director of Exploration, Latin America and the Caribbean, Repsol will provide conference delegates with the latest developments on the investment climate, the resource potential for the basin as well as their company expectations.

Given Trinidad & Tobago’s strategic position and mature energy services industry, the potential development of offshore reservoirs in the three countries presents a major opportunity for the country.

If we are to take advantage of these developments, Trinidad & Tobago needs a strategy to ensure that our companies and people are ready and able to grasp the available opportunities.

Trinidad & Tobago’s hydrocarbon resource and, in particular, its natural gas have enabled it to become the most industrialised Caribbean nation. Given the maturity of the energy sector in Trinidad & Tobago, its sector is supported by a large number of skilled and well trained people.

There are large numbers of service companies which provide support services to the major producers, these companies are highly experienced and have gathered world renowned reputations. The Energy Chamber remains committed to assisting local companies to be able to export services regionally and internationally and to date has led successful trade mission to over ten countries.

SABIC is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of chemicals, fertilizers, plastics and metals and in 2010 had net income, sales revenue and total assets of US $5.5 billion, US $40.5 billion and US $84.5 billion respectively.

Mr Bazid focuses on the development and growth of SABIC both organically and through mergers and acquisitions. Among his assignments is the development and execution of the first flexible cracker projects in Saudi Arabia. In addition he played a key role in developing SABIC capability in technology development and project management.

In the year 2001 he assumed responsibility for developing SABIC business in Europe through the acquisition of DSM Petrochemical Business and later Huntsman Petrochemicals in the UK. At the same time he managed the integration of the acquisition and assumed various high level roles to ensure the expansion of SABIC business in Europe.

In the year 2007 he lead an effort to acquire GE Plastics which was concluded successfully with the financial and legal closing on August 31.

He has been the Chief Operating Officer of SABIC Europe and the Managing Director of Chemicals and Intermediates business since 2006 and 2003 respectively.
As always, the conference is the breeding ground for critical debate and analysis of the country’s energy sector.

Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector is at a strategic crossroads where both policy makers and investors need to meet to collaborate on a coherent forward plan and reserves will be at the nexus of this discussion. Consequently, it is imperative that all parties share a common, clear and coherent understanding of the available opportunities set in the context of the life cycle for our finite resource base.

At the Chamber, our mission is to facilitate a more informed discussion so that participants will be better able to access the information, to prioritise and make informed contributions to the future of the T&T oil and gas industry.

Our conference workshop with the theme: “Understanding Reserves” will help educate participants on oil and gas reserves.

The workshop will explore methods for estimating reserves, the implicit risks and uncertainties, how they are categorised and how changes in financial and protocols in reporting standards affect reserve audits.

The workshop will be facilitated by Philip Farfan. You can view all workshops on the Workshops page.

Mr Farfan has over 30 years of experience in the local and international energy industry. He began his career here with Amoco Trinidad Oil where he worked mostly on the oil and gas fields offshore the east coast but also spent time on the evaluation of several other onshore and offshore opportunities for the company. He was transferred to Houston in 1989 and then to London in 1990, and in both locations he explored for oil and gas in the North Sea. He changed company and with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation he began a relationship with North Africa that began in 1989 that included a period as the general manager during the construction phase of a co-ventured $2 billion, 200,000 barrel a day project in the Sahara desert of Algeria. This ended when he moved back to Houston in 2002 and he became a Vice President with a mandate to expand the company’s portfolios in West Africa, Venezuela, Russia and Kazakhstan. He returned to London between 2005 and 2008 as the exploration manager which exposed him to the Middle East, and the circum Mediterranean industry. He returned to Trinidad as the resident manager for Kerr McGee, a subsidiary of Anadarko and retired in 2010. He is now the General Manager of AGES.

Below is an excerpt from his address:

“The year 2012 is supposed to be according to one prediction – the end of the world. The year 2012 is however shaping up to be a year of heightened activity in the Trinidad and Tobago energy sector. As a country, we must move quickly to maximize on the high oil prices both from WTI and Brent perspectives. The Ministry’s forecasting of oil production indicates that oil production which averaged around 94,000 bopd for January to October 2011 should edge back up towards the 100,000 bopd mark in 2012. Early in the New Year we will meet with all oil producers to understand their plans for increasing oil production.

Upstream activity & oil production

With respect to oil production, which I said is the number one priority of the Ministry of Energy, Petrotrin continues its infill well drilling programme at Trinmar and has thus far drilled 15 of the 21 wells in this programme. This activity needs to be commended especially when one considers that drilling at Trinmar had almost ground to a halt since 2007. Trinmar’s production is now edging towards the 23,000 mark and is the first increase in over six years. However we all know that Trinmar can do much better. In July 2012 the licensee for Trinmar’s Soldado area will expire. This license dates back to 1952 and was first renewed in 1982. The year 2012 is therefore an opportunity to think about what we can do differently with the Soldado fields which are estimated to have reserves as 2007 oil audit of 3P ( over 300 million barrels) and with exploration resources of almost one 750 million barrels of oil. The heavy oil resources in Soldado has not yet been quantified but is expected to be in the billions of barrels.

The 3D seismic survey that was completed in March of this year is being processed. This will give us the best view we have ever had of the deeper horizons on land. I am especially heartened by the views of one of the longest serving oilmen in Trinidad and Tobago who told me that in his view there was whole other oil province in the deeper horizons on land. Currently there is seismic work being done off the North Coast by Niko and Centrica and BP has also commenced work on their own seismic programme shortly – the three phase greater Cassia OBC seismic.
As you would recall, a few weeks ago I visited the West Jaya sem-submersible rig together with Norm Christie. The West Jaya is here for at least two years and will drill 17 wells for BP. These wells are to be drilled as follows 3 in Immortelle, 7 at Amherstia, 5 at Mahagony and 2 at Cassia. In addition, next year BG will start work on the development of Starfish and that will kick off a period of heightened activity for BG which will also see infill drilling on the Dolphin Field.

Finally a few days ago Niko spudded its first offshore well, drilling from the Rowan Gorilla III rig on location at the Stalin prospect which is the first of three wells planned for Block 2ab. This is a brief but forward looking picture of the major projects in the upstream sector in 2012.

I will now look specifically at two of the private companies that have exciting plans for 2012. They are Bayfield and Trinity (formerly TDN).

Bayfield

We expect to see a heightened state of activity in 2012 as Bayfield prepares to commence drilling of seven exploration wells. Bayfield’s new super single slant rig is currently in operation on the Trintes platforms as of September 29 2011. The company plans 24 side tracks. Bayfield expects to push its production up to 7000 barrels of oil per day by the end of 2013. The Bayfield story in Trinidad and Tobago speaks volume to the success of private capital in the oil industry. In July of this year the company listed on the London Stock Exchange. The success of private capital in the oil and gas industry is replicated by the Lease Operators who have held their oil production at consistent levels. The Lease Operators and the Farmouts and the Incremental Production Service Contracts now produce 31% of Petrotrin’s land based oil production or about 6400 bopd. That is a tremendous accomplishment and speaks volumes about the indigenous talent of the private sector oilmen in Trinidad and Tobago.

Ten Degrees North

In the case of Ten Degrees North (which will soon change its name to Trinity), 2012 promises to be an extremely busy year. They plan to drill 22 wells onshore and another 6 to 8 wells in the Brighton Marine area. At the end of Q4 2012 they plan to shoot 3D seismic on the Point Ligoure/Guapo offshore block. In 2011, Trinity closed on raising US$14 million in private equity from investors located in Trinidad, United Kingdom and Hong Kong. In 2012, the company plans to raise in excess of $50 million in the London capital markets to fund the Brighton marine development. The real stars of the oil industry are the entrepreneurs behind these two companies.

Deepwater bid round

With regard to the next deepwater bid round, we had originally planned to open it in November of this year. However the advice coming from the companies is that the months of December and January are usually bad months for them due to the holidays. The reprocessing of the Ministry’s 2D seismic data will also be completed by the end of January 2012. Taking these practical considerations into mind we have decided to push the deepwater bid round to March 2012.

We will feature an address by Amy Myers Jaffe, a leading expert on the geopolitics of oil, energy, security and risk.

Associate director of the Energy Program at Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, she is a frequent keynote speaker at major energy industry and investment conferences.

Her latest book is “Oil, Dollars, Debt and Crises” and Jaffe’s perspective on global energy will bring an added dimension to the conference, especially based on latest developments in energy commodity price swings.

Between September and October 2011 the value of the Energy Commodity Price Index (ECPI) increased, albeit fractionally, helping to arrest two consecutive months of decline in the prices of Trinidad and Tobago’s major energy exports.

The ECPI’s value increased by less than one percent from 148.06 in September to 148.67 in October.

This follows on the heels of the largest monthly decline for the year (4.95 percent) between July and August and 1.14 percent decline between August and September.
The increase in the ECPI’s value was triggered by significant price gains in methanol and ammonia.

Based on the weighting of the index, petrochemicals account for a combined 24 percent of the index’s value.

Between September and October methanol prices have increased by $15 per metric tonne while ammonia prices rose by an impressive $66 per metric tonne.
Conversely, urea prices declined by $10 per metric tonne.

Year-on-year, the October 2011 index value of 148.67 was an improvement on the October 2010 119.69 index value.

The ECPI is a summary measure of the price movement of Trinidad and Tobago’s top ten energy-based commodity exports, weighted by each commodity’s relative share of its value. The commodities and their weights are: LNG (40.0%); Oil (16.6%); Ammonia (11.8%); Methanol (9.4%); Diesel (7.0%); Motor gasoline (4.3%); Natural gasoline (3.5%); Jet fuel (2.7%); Propane (2.4%); and Urea (2.3%).

The Energy Chamber teamed up with the Central Bank to develop the ECPI.

Mr Soliman has 29 years of Engineering and Managerial experience in various parts of the world with Schlumberger.

Mr Soliman joined Schlumberger in Cairo, Egypt after graduating as an Electrical Engineer. He started his international career in the oilfield services industry in 1981.

During his address, he will give an overview of new technologies available for unlocking reserves in frontier basins.

Having a leader of one of the world’s top services companies give a perspective on unlocking reserves is especially important given the country’s drive to develop our deep water acreage and stimulate more investment into the exploration and production sector.

Schlumberger is the world’s largest oilfield services company and employs over 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries.

According to Ernst and Young’s fourth annual US E&P Benchmark Study, a shale gas drilling boom spurred US oil and gas reserve growth to a five year high in 2010 and also doubled upstream spending (mainly due to shale property acquisitions).

The study stated that “natural gas reserves grew 12 percent from 156.2 Trillion cubic feet (tcf) in 2009 to 174.3 tcf in 2010, the strongest combined annual growth posted from 2006 to 2010”.

The US natural gas production replacement rate from all sources was 252 percent last year, compared with 156 percent in 2009, the study also noted.

At the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference, we plan to provide a detailed look at how shale gas in the US is transforming the US energy industry and its consequent impact on Trinidad and Tobago and we will feature an address by Amy Myers Jaffe.

Amy Myers Jaffe is a leading expert on the geopolitics of oil, energy, security and risk. Associate director of the Energy Program at Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, she is a frequent keynote speaker at major energy industry and investment conferences.
Her latest book is “Oil, Dollars, Debt and Crises.”

A widely quoted commentator on oil and energy policy in the international media who has provided testimony on Capitol Hill on energy matters, Jaffe appears regularly on a variety of television news stations and programs including CNN, “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” FOX, MSNBC, and National Public Radio. Her writings have been featured by the The New York Times, Dow Jones International, and the Mideast Report.

A contributor to Foreign Policy magazine’s “21 Solutions to Save the World” and recipient of the Award for Excellence by the International Association for Energy Economics, Jaffe was among the 2004 &ldquolKey Women in Energy-Americas” honorees and was named to Esquire’s annual 100 Best and Brightest.

Jaffe’s long list of accomplishments include serving as a member of the reconstruction and economy working group of the Baker/Hamilton Iraq Study Group and a major contributor to the recent joint Baker Institute/CFR task force on Guiding Principles for U.S. Post-Conflict Policy in Iraq. She has also served as an advisor to the U.S. National Intelligence Council Study on Energy to 2015 and as a principal advisor to USAID’s project on Options for Developing a Long Term Sustainable Iraqi Oil Industry.

Jaffe is a principal author of the Baker Institute’s numerous energy studies that cover energy trends in the Middle East, Caspian Basin, China, Russia and Japan, as well as emerging technologies in the nuclear, nanotechnology, and natural gas sectors. Jaffe is currently organizing a major study on oil, the US dollar, national debt and market crises as well as a major initiative on global poverty and energy.

Prior to joining the Baker Institute, Jaffe was the senior editor and Middle East analyst for Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. Her research focuses on the subjects of oil geopolitics, strategic energy policy – including energy science policy – and energy economics.