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Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar will this af­ter­noon sign a Pro­duc­tion Shar­ing Con­tract with Exxon­Mo­bil Trinidad and To­ba­go Deep­wa­ter Ltd. for Block TTUD1 — mark­ing the com­pa­ny’s re­turn to lo­cal wa­ters af­ter more than two decades.

The cer­e­mo­ny, host­ed by the Min­istry of En­er­gy and En­er­gy In­dus­tries, takes place from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Prime Min­is­ter’s Res­i­dence and Diplo­mat­ic Cen­tre in Port of Spain.

Speak­ing at her Mon­day night fo­rum in Cou­va, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said it would be the first time since 2003 that Exxon­Mo­bil has re-en­tered the coun­try, this time to ex­plore a new­ly de­fined ul­tra-deep­wa­ter zone known as UD-1 — about 2,000 to 3,000 me­tres deep and sev­en blocks off the east coast.