Storm clouds or a bright future?

2nd August 2026

Four months ago, I wrote an article on the future of the deepwater Calypso gas project in Trinidad & Tobago, noting the importance of this major potential development for the economy and expressing the hope that we could see progress in the development. 

Up until 28th July, there was no further significant news on the project, either from the operator, Woodside, the non-operator partner, bp, or the Government of Trinidad & Tobago.  Unfortunately, the news that came out in the Woodside second quarter 2026 report to shareholders does not at first sight look positive for the development.   

Back in their April first quarter 2026 report, Woodside stated that the Calypso joint venture was progressing the scoping of additional engineering studies. In the most recent report, there is no mention of engineering studies but just that evaluations were continuing, including an assessment of Calypso’s relative value within Woodside’s portfolio.

It would appear that the relative value of Calypso for Woodside has been downgraded within their development project portfolio, because the report also stated that Woodside will book an impairment loss of approximately US$160-US$200 million (pre- and post-tax) in their accounts for the project. 

Woodside have given no reason for this impairment and the downgrade of the value of the asset in their portfolio, so it is very difficult to speculate why this has taken place. Typically, an impairment for an upstream project in the planning stage would come about if there was new data indicating that the economics of the project are not looking as good as previously thought, for example that estimated construction costs have increased or new geological data shows smaller recoverable reserves. 

Given the very challenging engineering that the Calypso project faces in bringing deepwater gas to the market, the apparent downgrade of the project within Woodside’s portfolio does not seem positive.  The fear must be that this deepwater gas remains stranded and, given the costs, that it is never developed.  A read of the Woodside second quarter report clearly shows that they have many other promising projects where they can allocate their capital. 

There is, however, one possibility that might be more positive for T&T: one scenario for the future of Calypso that has been discussed has been a sale of the asset to another operator, most obviously bp who are already a 30% shareholder in the development. If there has been progress in that possible transaction at a lower price than Woodside had previously booked in their accounts, then that might also explain the impairment. 

I must emphasise that all of this is mere speculation. I will, however, be looking the bp second quarter report due on Tuesday 4th August with interest, to see if there are any clues about Calypso or other projects in Trinidad & Tobago or Venezuela.

It would also be good if the Government of Trinidad & Tobago could report to the nation on the status of the Calypso project. The last time we heard anything about this vital project from the Government was in October 2025, and that was simply a report of a meeting between leaders from bp and Woodside with the Prime Minister. The last substantive news was in February 2025 ; that was a report that there was an initial agreement on the commercial terms for developing the project. 

Given the importance of this development to the future of the country more regular and detailed reporting should be provided.