Robert Riley, chairman and chief executive officer of BP Trinidad and Tobago, as seen on the company's website. - Contributed

BP Trinidad and Tobago (BPTT) will be investing US$1 billion in new drilling and natural gas exploration programmes in 2008, and will likely spend a similar sum annually over five years, the company's chairman and CEO Robert Riley has said.

The investment will cover both operations and capital projects.

"Next year, we will spend about US$50 million on a well," he said. "It will be in the northern area and maybe after that we will look at deep Poui prospect in 2009."

BPTT has in excess of 12 wells planned up to year 2012.

"We're spending all told next year in cost and capital projects, about a US$1 billion, and that's what we sort of project each year to spend on pulling through this gas," Riley said.

Describing the last five years as a period of exciting and phenomenal growth, Riley said between 2001 and 2007 BPTT more than doubled its production and has generated about US$10 billion in cash.

The company, which has the second largest gas business in BP's global portfolio after Russia, said it has paid out about US$6.5 billion in taxes and royalties; invested US$3.4 billion in plant, equipment and infrastructure and in the last 2.5 years paid dividends of about US$3.4 billion.

- Linda Hutchinson-Jafar