BP’s Trinidad and Tobago division, bpTT has embarked on developing an onshore compression project in the Caribbean country to increase production capacity in the Columbus Basin.

Considered to be one of the seven main upstream projects of the UK-based oil and gas giant, the project dubbed as the Trinidad onshore compression (TROC) is expected to be brought online this year.

Full start-up is slated to begin in the coming few months, and when completely onstream, TROC facility will potentially deliver about 200 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

BP upstream business CEO Bernard Looney said: “Delivered on-time and on-budget, this major infrastructure project is part of BP’s plan to bring 500,000 barrels a day of new production capacity online by the end of 2017 and paves the way for Juniper, our other major project start-up in Trinidad and Tobago this year.”

The onshore compression facility will boost production capability through the increased production from low-pressure wells located in the existing acreage of bpTT in the Columbus Basin.

An additional inlet compressor will be deployed at the Atlantic LNG plant in Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago, said BP to boost the overall productivity.

TROC will be completely financed and owned by bpTT while the Atlantic LNG Company will be its operator.

The onshore compression project was cleared in July last year after agreements were reached between shareholders of the Atlantic company, the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago and other directly connected upstream operators.

BP Trinidad and Tobago regional president Norman Christie said: “The TROC project is a clear example of bpTT, the government and many key players in the oil and gas industry cooperating to improve production capacity, which will benefit both the petrochemical plants and Atlantic.

“Though start-up will be phased, we anticipate an improvement in gas production in 2017 as a result of TROC and the planned start-up of Juniper later this year.”

The Juniper offshore gas project is expected to draw its first gas this year from the Corallita and Lantana fields.