Ruby is a shallow-water oil and gas field being developed off the coast of Trinidad. BHP Billiton is the operator of the field with a 68.46% participating interest.
The non-operating partners are Trinidad and Tobago’s state-owned oil and gas companies Heritage Petroleum (20.13%) and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (11.41%).
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BHP sanctioned the Ruby offshore development project by approving an investment of £215m ($283m) in August 2019. The total estimated investment for the project is £381m ($500m).
Scheduled to come on stream in 2021, the peak production capacity of the offshore field is expected to be approximately 16,000 barrels of oil and 80 million cubic feet (Mcf) of gas a day.
Location and reservoirs
The Ruby project comprises the Ruby and Delaware reservoirs located in the Block 3(a) development area, approximately 40km off the north-eastern coast of Trinidad.
The Block 3(a) is spread over 150,000 acres in water depths ranging between 30m and 90m.
Discovery and recoverable reserves
Discovered in 2006, the Ruby field is estimated to hold 13.2 million barrels of oil and 274 billion cubic feet (Mcf) of natural gas in recoverable reserves.
Ruby project background
The BHP-led consortium was awarded the Block 3(a) license by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in 2001, while a production sharing contract (PSC) was signed in 2002.
Ruby field development plan
The Ruby offshore development project consists of five production wells tied back to the existing processing facilities in the Greater Angostura field which has been producing since January 2005.
The Angostura field, which is also operated by BHP, is located in the adjacent Block 2 (c), approximately 8km east of the Ruby field.
The Angostura central processing platform (CPP) is connected to onshore facilities through multiple pipelines including the Tobago pipeline and the North-Eastern offshore pipeline.
The Ruby field development is intended to compensate for the fall in production at the mature Angostura field.
Contractors involved
Genesis Oil and Gas Consultants, a subsidiary of TechnipFMC, is engaged for the engineering and construction of a jacket and topside for the Ruby offshore development project.
McDermott International received a contract to supply and install subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines (SURF), as well as for the pre-commissioning of one jacket and topsides for the project in February 2020.
McDermott will use its Derrick Lay Vessel (DLV) 2000 to transport and install the flowlines and platform.
Fugro has been engaged since June 2018 to provide geophysical and geotechnical services for the Ruby offshore field development.
The scope of geophysical services includes seismic, seabed clearance and shallow hazards surveys, while geotechnical services include drilling, laboratory analysis, and engineering reporting.
