Touchstone Exploration Inc. announced that the company received the Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) it needed to conduct development operations within the Cascadura area of the Ortoire block.
The CEC was approved by the Trinidad and Tobago Environmental Management Authority on Tuesday.
Touchstone has an 80% operating working interest in the Ortoire block, with Heritage Petroleum Company Limited holding the remaining 20% working interest.
The CEC approves 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, with a storage capacity of 8,800 barrels of liquids on the Cascadura A wellsite. In addition to the facility, the CEC includes 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. The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited has begun activity in the field to commence the construction of the 1.7 kilometer, 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, president and CEO. “We are working with our local contractors, and construction is underway at local fabrication shops for various aspects of the facility with all major facility components already delivered to Trinidad. We will provide updates on the project milestones as we move forward.”