Heritage Petroleum Seeks Contractors to Develop Deeper Onshore Oil Targets in Trinidad

• Trinidad and Tobago's state-owned Heritage Petroleum (Heritage) is seeking contractors to support the exploration and potential development of deeper oil resources within its existing onshore acreage. In a procurement notice issued on October 12, 2026, Heritage invited companies to prequalify for partnership opportunities covering exploration and development drilling, improved oil recovery and production operations.
• Heritage is seeking contractors capable of providing integrated services, from subsurface reservoir modelling and field development planning to well design, drilling and eventual production. Interested contractors must demonstrate technical expertise, financial capacity, operational experience and compliance with health, safety and environmental standards, with prequalification applications due by November 10, 2026 through the Office of Procurement Regulation's procurement depository.
• The initiative follows the July 2025 announcement by the Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Roodal Moonilal, that the government was amending Heritage's licences to grant it exploration rights to deeper formations in four onshore blocks, namely the Cruze Horizon, Guapo Oropouche Brighton Horizon, Herrera Horizon and Mayaro-Guayaguayare Horizon blocks. In return, Heritage committed to drilling one exploration well in each block over three years, targeting depths of 5,500 to 13,500 feet.
• The strategy forms part of efforts to reverse declining oil production from Trinidad and Tobago's mature fields. According to figures disclosed by the Minister, Heritage's onshore production fell 5.8% to 9,667 barrels per day (bpd) in 2025 from 10,264 bpd in 2020. Successful exploration of these under-explored deeper formations could identify new resources to offset the decline in output from established reservoirs, with the Minister noting that it could also revive onshore oil development and encourage other operators to pursue deeper targets.
• Partnering with contractors could give Heritage access to specialised technical capability and help share the cost of drilling deeper, higher-risk wells. However, the initiative remains at an early stage, and as such, execution risk is prevalent. Any production uplift would depend on exploration success and the time needed to bring discoveries into development. Deeper wells also typically carry higher drilling costs and technical risk, so the commercial viability of these targets will depend on well results and prevailing oil prices.

(Sources: OilNOW & NCBCM Research)