The Future of the Calypso

 … and will Meg O’Neil’s arrival at bp make a difference? 

7th April 2026

Just to be clear upfront, I am writing about the big gas resources in the deep waters between Tobago and Barbados, rather than the musical genre.  The future of calypso music is a whole other subject, on which I have no competency to opine. 

The Calypso gas resource comprises several gas discoveries in Block 23(a) and Block TTDAA 14, around 100 km to the east of Tobago (towards the maritime boundary with Barbados). Block TTDAA 14 was originally licensed to BHP in 2011, with Block 23 (a) being licensed to bp and Repsol the same year. BHP’s petroleum division was subsequently sold to fellow Australian company, Woodside, leaving BHP to concentrate on its global minerals operations and Woodside to integrate the oil and gas business into their existing operations. 

There was an extensive exploration campaign carried out on the blocks and an appraisal drilling program (consisting of the Bongos-3, Bongos-3X and Bongos-4 wells) which found hydrocarbons, with estimated gas resources in the region of 3.2 – 3.5 trillion cubic feet.   The appraisal drilling campaign was completed in 2021 and there has been extensive pre-final investment decision worked carried out on the potential development, with conceptual studies, geotechnical investigations and engineering design work, as well as commercial negotiations. 

On their website, Woodside, the operators of the development, say that their preferred development concept is an “infield host”. Given the water depths of over 2,000 meters this would mean some type of floating production system. Woodside report that front-end engineering and design (FEED) started in the second half of 2023 to mature the definition of the concept. Trinidad & Tobago’s biggest gas producer, bp, have a 30% non-operator shareholding in the development. 

In February 2025 there were media reports that there was an initial agreement on the commercial terms for developing the project, taking the project one step closer to an investment decision.  According to the reports, the two production sharing contracts (PSCs) covering the Calypso resources would be merged into one single contract to help operators reduce costs and increase efficiency for the development. Additional acreage outside the development area would be returned to the state.  The sentiment at the time was that this would help move the project towards a final investment decision. 

In the year since, there has been no further information released about the development, other than the fact that the two partners, Woodside and bp, met with the T&T Minister of Energy in May 2025 and with the Prime Minister in October 2025. There is no definite news on a possible timeline for a FID, either from the companies or the government. 

Over the past year, Woodside have significantly decreased their presence in Trinidad & Tobago. With the sale of the mature Angostura development to Perenco, they no longer have operations in country, and their Trinidad staff have either transferred to elsewhere in Woodside globally, moved over to Perenco or moved on to other opportunities. 

Given Woodside’s exit from operations in Trinidad, one of the possible routes for the development could see bp taking over the operations and increasing their shareholding.  Over the past few years, bp has certainly shown itself ready and able to invest heavily in Trinidad & Tobago upstream gas production, with its 45% shareholding in Atlantic providing a ready route to international markets for LNG.  

Woodside has been investing heavily in LNG export capacity in the USA, with its recent purchase of the massive Louisianna LNG project (with a Woodside capital investment of around USD 10 billion).  Given the scope of this investment in the USA, there are obvious question marks about Woodsides appetite and ability to also invest heavily in a major gas development in Trinidad & Tobao (especially as unlike bp they do not have direct access to Atlantic as a shareholder). 

If bp is indeed negotiating to take over the operatorship, it would be reasonable to expect that they would be looking at a development concept that involved the transport of gas from Calypso into the Trinidad pipeline grid for delivery to Atlantic (and also possibly Trinidad downstream petrochemical plants), rather than a floating LNG option. 

The appointment of Meg O’Neil, previously the CEO of Woodside, as the new CEO of bp may be an interesting development in this story. With bp refocusing investment into upstream oil and gas, rather than renewables, will this encourage them to invest even more capital in Trinidad & Tobago? O’Neil will certainly be very familiar with the Calypso development. 

For the future of T&T’s gas sector I certainly hope that this project can move forward. Calypso would be the first deepwater gas development in the country and would extend new infrastructure further into the Atlantic. Trinidad’s history already shows how important infrastructure lead exploration is for the gas industry, as having available pipelines and processing infrastructure nearby significantly improves the economics of new gas fields.  In addition to the Calypso resources, there are many other targets in the deepwater areas, possibly even extending into Barbados’s exclusive economic zone. 

Unlike the Dragon, Cocuina, Loran or other fields in Venezuela that companies hope to tap for gas exports to Trinidad, the government of Trinidad & Tobago would be collecting taxes on these fields (rather than the government in Caracas).  While the tax take for a deepwater gas development will certainly be less than a shallow water development, given the size of the resource this could still represent a significant revenue stream for Trinidad & Tobago. Based on the 2025 media reports, the companies and the government have already come to at least a preliminary agreement on tax terms. 

It would be great to see a priority being put on this resource.

Calypso is extremely important for Trinidad & Tobago’s economic future.