According to most projections, natural gas will play a significant role in the energy mix as the world transitions to lower carbon fuels and renewable energy. The market for fuel like coal and heavy crude will decline, while growth is still expected for natural gas and LNG.
The NGC Group of Companies has been diversifying and expanding its investment portfolio and today operates across the entire natural gas value chain, both locally and beyond Trinidad and Tobago. EnergyNow spoke with Dr. Joseph Ishmael Khan, Chairman of The NGC Group, to gain some perspectives on the future of the company and its potential areas for growth.
Dr. Khan said while recognising that natural gas was the fuel of choice for decades to come, The Group wanted to continue to champion and participate in those arrangements and be able to support the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, as it related to strengthening gas supply and production.
Dr. Khan explained that the Group had significant expertise in the energy sector. He referenced the port and industrial estate management capabilities of National Energy and LABIDCO; NGC’s experience in gas merchandising and gas infrastructure engineering and maintenance; as well as PPGPL’s experience in gas processing, inter alia.
The Chairman noted that the collective technical expertise of the Group could be marketed to emerging natural gas jurisdictions such as Guyana and Suriname. He said that the Group planned to explore opportunities to leverage and export its local expertise.
He explained that this was something that had been done in the past, referencing a project in Ghana where NGC had executed the design, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning of a pressure regulator skid package for the existing Takoradi Distribution Station in Ghana. The project was executed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Khan said, “We would like to export our expertise to ensure that we can also add value not just to those countries who may need it, but also to attract an additional source of revenue (and foreign exchange). These technology-driven solutions can also be exported to the wider region.”
He added that NGC also had expertise in asset integrity and project management, which could also be marketed beyond the shores of Trinidad and Tobago.
He also indicated that NGC, the local aggregator, transporter and distributor of natural gas, could apply this distinct set of capabilities to the transportation of other gases, for example, hydrogen and carbon dioxide (for carbon capture).
He said that Government had announced two hydrogen projects, and the Group—specifically National Energy— would have a role to play in their execution. He added that if tapping into alternative sources of energy could allow us to save on natural gas consumption, it could liberate more volumes for LNG and the domestic downstream industry. The Group was working on initiatives in the areas of carbon capture and storage and methane mitigation.
Dr. Khan added that NGC Green was an investment vehicle for NGC. The Group’s pursuit of clean energy projects in particular would be managed by NGC Green. The company had already undertaken an investment in the Brechin Castle Solar Farm project, which would focus on renewable energy and low carbon strategies for solar and wind. There was also an opportunity to join the planning groups for the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries as well as The Ministry of Planning and Development to engage in research and development. He also said that NGC Green, along with National Energy, was seeking opportunities outside of Trinidad and Tobago, in the Dominican Republic and Barbados (among others), but this work was still preliminary.
In terms of the traditional energy sector, Khan said that as part of the efforts to diversify the business portfolio, NGC E&P Investment Limited had been established to manage the company’s investment stakes in upstream assets. The gas produced from the blocks in which the company had joint venture investments was used for the domestic market and the LNG market.
Dr. Khan said, “We see the upstream as a great opportunity to invest so that we can add more value to the industry and secure new gas into the system.” He expanded that through the Commercial Division of NGC, all possible opportunities went through a rigorous assessment process, so that they could do their due diligence and assess the risk profile and the benefits that could arise from the investment. He added, “We are willing to participate in any area of the gas value chain, once the opportunities and the new value proposition make economic sense. For example, cross border or small pool development is an area we believe is worth exploring.”
On Local Content…
Dr. Khan said that NGC was willing to partner with all entities to ensure that there was a reduction of the value leakage from the energy sector and added value to T&T. He suggested that local content was important to ensure that value stayed within the country. He referred to local content not just in terms of human resources (or labour), but also in terms of equipment and material. He suggested that a framework should be developed to ensure that there wasn’t any value leakage from the gas value chain. He also reiterated that it was important to assess and measure local content and then put things in place to reduce value leakage, suggesting too that legislation might be required with some penalties.
Dr. Khan said that the question was: “How do we create a framework that allows an enabling environment and at the same time manage risk, incentives, penalties and opportunities?”
In answering this question, he said, “We have to do some process mapping and do an assessment of relevant legislation as well as examine legislative reform and strengthen our policy environment. How do we build institutional and human capacity to deliver within this energy space? How do we create the right leadership arrangement? At the end of the day, I think we should be building a stronger arrangement for leaders in the energy sector. Without that we cannot achieve diversification or value chain integration. If we don’t have the right leadership in energy, the right strategy would not be executed as well as the right projects being identified and initiated. Securing the energy future requires strategic leadership in this energy space and is a critical success factor. But if you don’t have that, you won’t be making the right decisions for acquisitions, small scale LNG, renewables and CCS.”
The main companies within The NGC Group of Companies are:
The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC)
National Energy Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (National Energy)
NGC Green Company Limited (NGC Green)
Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited (PPGPL)
La Brea Industrial Development Company Limited (LABIDCO)Trinidad and Tobago NGL Limited (TTNGL)