With new gas coming on stream from bpTT’s Juniper project and the full implementation of the Trinidad onshore compression (TROC) project, national gas production in Trinidad & Tobago appears to be at last turning the corner and showing signs of growth.
Talking at the Energy Chamber’s post annual general meeting panel discussion in October, bpTT’s regional president, Norman Christie sounded an optimistic note and reported that both TROC and Juniper were performing as expected. Juniper should be operating at full capacity early in Q4 2017 and bpTT will be able to fully maximize the benefit of TROC, since performance of both these projects is closely linked. Christie also reported that further investments in new production, in particular the Angelin project, are on or ahead of schedule and progressing well.
Christie reported that with the new projects coming on stream bpTT’s year to date gas production was 10% higher than in 2016. He also reported that bpTT had increased its floor for the delivery of gas to the National Gas Company by 18% since last year.
At a national level, gas production bounced back in Q3 2017, after hitting lows of just over 3.0 billion cubic feet of gas production per day (bcf/d) in May 2017. In July 2017 Trinidad and Tobago recording national production figures of over 3.5 bcf/d for the first time since January 2016.
With Shell also reporting significant new investments that should result in increased gas production in the short-term, including new wells in the Starfish field, and with new drilling from EOG Resources, the prospects for gas future gas production in Trinidad & Tobago are looking more positive, after years of damaging gas shortfalls for both LNG and petrochemicals. With positive news about deepwater gas finds and the potential for gas imports from Venezuela, the gas supply situation in Trinidad now appears increasingly favourable.
This more positive outlook was reflected in the optimistic assessment of the future of the Trinidad & Tobago gas industry as outlined by Nigel Darlow, CEO of Atlantic, also talking the Energy Chamber’s recent panel discussion. Darlow expressed confidence in the ability of the Trinidad’s mature LNG sector to compete internationally, once gas supplies were available from the upstream. The underlying strengths of the Trinidad gas industry and the lower cost base that the industry enjoys, compared to more recent entrants into the sector such as the USA or Australia, means that the Trinidad sector should be able to continue to profitably compete in international markets.