Range Resources and Leni to jointly develop onshore fields in Trinidad

Range Resources and Leni Gas & Oil have entered into a partnership to jointly develop the Goudron and Beach Marcelle oil fields in the Eastern Fields Area of southern Trinidad.

Under the agreement, Range will spend $8m to acquire a 50% interest in Goudron E&P, a wholly owned subsidiary of Leni, which has the exclusive rights to purchase the existing incremental production service contract for the Goudron field. The Goudron field will be operated by Leni during the initial work-over phase.

Range will also become operator during the infill drilling and water flood phases, which is subject to the company acquiring the 50% stake in Goudron E&P. Leni has an option to acquire a 15% stake in Range’s Beach Marcelle waterflood project by paying up to $7m towards the development costs. Range holds a 100% stake in the Beach Marcelle incremental production service contract where the company has approved the redevelopment of the existing field production by means of a water-flood.

The Goudron field, which covers an area of about 2,875 acres, has an estimated 21.8 million barrels of reserves in proven, probable and possible categories and produces from the Goudron and Gros Morne (Cruse equivalent) sandstone formations. Production at the field now averages below 100bpd and Leni plans an initial work programme involving well work-overs and selected infill wells to bring production between 450bpd and 500bpd. The field production would also be raised to up to 4,000bpd through additional infill drilling and hydraulic fracturing of wells.

Range’s Beach Marcelle block covers an area of 624 acres and holds a proven reserve of 12.8 million barrels. The company plans to commence production from this field in 2013 with water-flood techniques and field production will peak at 5,000bpd in 2015.