In the year since the last T&T Energy Conference there have been many positive developments in the local energy sector: we have seen the Atlantic restructuring completed, a license signed for the Dragon gas field, deepwater exploration blocks PSCs signed, onshore licenses awarded, a shallow water bid round launched (with more attractive terms), the Manatee project moving towards construction, continued activity to progress the Calypso project, new downstream supply contracts signed and the first major solar project in the country under construction. We have had first gas from Cascadura, and the Mento and Cypre projects are under execution.
Despite this positive news, the gas supply situation is challenging and will remain so over the next few years. The major projects in the pipeline that could increase production are going to take a few years to be completed and in the meantime, the struggle is to maintain production without significant additional declines.
This reality highlights the need to move actions forward as quickly as possible, hence the theme chosen for the 2024 edition of the T&T Energy Conference: Accelerating Action. The Energy Chamber’s view is that there is good alignment between the Government and industry on what needs to happen to create a sustainable future for our energy sector. The key challenge that the Energy Chamber sees, is to move faster and implement the decisions that are needed to bring on new projects and invest in efficiency in the existing system as quickly as possible.
The Energy Chamber has written about the systemic elements that we think could be addressed to move actions along faster in the past. We have identified items like a lack of general understanding across society of the serious challenge that we face in the gas sector, the problem of siloed decision making in Government, archaic processes (still mainly paper-based in 2024) and the problem of institutional capacity and the ability of key Government agencies to recruit and retain all the skilled professionals that they need.
We expect that issues like these and many others that impact Government decision-making will be discussed during the 2024 edition of the Energy Conference. The Conference must also discuss, however, what the industry can do to speed up project delivery. There is a lot of scope for partnerships between operators, and for partnerships between operators and service companies, that can improve the efficiency and speed of implementation. There are some existing initiatives that have been very fruitful in this regard, but there is certainly more that can be done. This requires dialogue and exchange and for companies to be willing to do things differently than they have done in the past.
As a membership organisation comprising companies from across the value and supply chain, the Energy Chamber is well placed and fully committed to facilitating the sort of dialogue needed for these initiatives. Coming out of the Local Content Forum last year, we are working on the issue of pre-qualification of contractors and on the competency of the labour force. There is a lot of scope for improved efficiency with better industry-wide systems in place, and these are obviously things that a trade association like the Energy Chamber is well positioned to advance.
If we are going to accelerate action, we are going to need commitment by a wide range of different stakeholders. The Energy Conference is an excellent opportunity to get those stakeholders together to advance all those conversations and actions.