BP agrees to acquire Woodside’s 70 percent stake in Calypso deepwater gas field offshore Trinidad and Tobago

BP announced Thursday it has agreed to acquire Woodside Energy Group’s 70 percent operating stake in the Calypso deepwater gas field offshore Trinidad and Tobago—a deal that would make the British energy company the sole owner of the early-stage project. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, though Woodside confirmed the transaction involves a combination of cash and contingent payments. The parties expect to close the deal by year-end, pending regulatory approval.

BP to become sole owner of Calypso gas field

The acquisition hands BP full control of Calypso, an early-stage deepwater natural gas project in waters off Trinidad and Tobago. Woodside previously held the 70 percent operating stake, and BP now absorbs that position entirely—consolidating ownership under a single operator.

Woodside confirmed the deal involves both cash and contingent payments, though neither company put a public number on it. The contingent structure suggests the final payout could shift depending on future milestones: development progress, regulatory outcomes, and production thresholds. The specific conditions weren’t disclosed. Closing is expected by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval from authorities in Trinidad and Tobago.

BP’s rationale is pretty straightforward: it already has deep roots in Trinidad and Tobago, and Calypso fits neatly into what it’s already built there.

Why BP pursued the acquisition

BP’s rationale is pretty straightforward: it already has deep roots in Trinidad and Tobago, and Calypso fits neatly into what it’s already built there.

The company is the country’s largest supplier of gas to the domestic market, holds a 45 percent stake in Atlantic LNG—the major liquefied natural gas facility off Trinidad’s southwest coast—and operates 12 offshore platforms and two subsea installations, making it the nation’s biggest hydrocarbon producer overall.

Gordon Birrell, BP’s executive vice president for upstream, framed the deal in terms of building on that foundation. “By building on the strengths of our existing operations and infrastructure, we have the potential to unlock new production and support long-term growth in the region,” Birrell said Thursday.

Picking up a deepwater gas asset next to infrastructure BP already runs is a lower-risk path to expanding output than entering a new basin from scratch. It’s about leverage—using what’s already in place to extract more value from nearby resources.

Woodside exits Trinidad and Tobago as part of a portfolio strategy

For Woodside, the sale closes a chapter. The Australian energy company has now fully exited Trinidad and Tobago, a market where it held assets for decades.

CEO Liz Westcott described the divestment as a deliberate portfolio call. “The transaction demonstrates Woodside’s clear focus on progressing the right opportunities across our global portfolio that have the best potential to deliver sustained value for Woodside shareholders,” she said.

Woodside had already been pulling back from the country before this deal. In 2025, it sold its producing assets in the Greater Angostura area to Perenco for AUD 206 million—roughly $145 million at the time—covering its operating stakes in the shallow-water Angostura and Ruby oil and gas fields, along with associated infrastructure. The Calypso stake was the last piece. With this sale, Woodside’s decades-long Caribbean presence is done.

BP’s footprint and the Atlantic LNG context

To understand why this deal makes sense for BP, it helps to see the full picture of what the company already controls in Trinidad and Tobago.

Atlantic LNG—co-owned by BP, Shell, and Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company—has a capacity of 15 million metric tons of LNG per year, making it one of the larger LNG facilities in the Western Hemisphere. BP’s 45 percent stake gives it significant exposure to the country’s export infrastructure. The 12 offshore platforms and two subsea installations it operates form a dense network that makes developing a nearby deepwater field like Calypso far more commercially viable than it would be for an operator starting from zero.

The assets Woodside sold to Perenco in 2025 also give some context for the scale of production in the region. The Angostura and Ruby fields produce roughly 300 million standard cubic feet per day of gas—about 12 percent of Trinidad and Tobago’s total national gas output. Perenco now holds 45 percent of Angostura under the 2(C) production sharing contract and 68.46 percent of Ruby under the 3(A) PSC, along with seven fixed platforms, subsea facilities, and an onshore terminal.

Cash plus contingent payments

Here’s what matters most. BP is acquiring Woodside’s 70 percent operating stake in the Calypso deepwater gas field, becoming the sole owner of the early-stage project. The price hasn’t been disclosed, but it involves cash plus contingent payments, with closing expected by year-end 2026 pending regulatory approval.

For BP, the deal extends its already dominant position in Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector—adding a deepwater gas asset to a portfolio that includes 12 offshore platforms, a major LNG stake, and the title of the country’s largest gas supplier. For Woodside, it’s the final step in a full exit from the country, following the 2025 sale of its Angostura and Ruby interests to Perenco, as the company reallocates capital toward opportunities it sees as better aligned with its long-term strategy.

Calypso is still an early-stage project. The real test of this acquisition’s value will come as development decisions unfold.

Kelly Lippke

Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.