Trinidad & Tobago’s upstream capital investment levels have been sustained through 2015, despite the slashing of capital investment budgets across the globe. Speaking in Parliament in December 2015, Nicole Olivierre, Trinidad & Tobago’s newly installed Minister of Energy, revealed that investment levels in 2016 were predicted to be in the US$3.0 billion range in 2016, a similar level of 2015. However, given the current market conditions there is no guarantee that investments will continue to flow in the volumes needed to increase gas production back to the level of demand in Trinidad & Tobago.
Trinidad and Tobago has been an iconic center for delivering hydrocarbons to the international market for several decades. Most recently it has been known for its production of LNG, Ammonia and Methane. Many of the challenges and concerns of late have been related to continuous gas supply, the increasingly competitive global market, and of course, low oil and gas commodity prices.
Earlier this year, the news came that Exxon Mobil had found oil offshore Guyana. It appears to be a major find. The news created a sense of euphoria among Guyanese. This discovery came during the tenure of the previous government and immediately, the then President Donald Ramotar arranged for a series of seminars to prepare the nation for the impact of an oil economy.
The likelihood of Trinidad and Tobago ever supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Jamaica, as was mooted at one time, seems more and more remote and probably won't happen at all.
Is the “viability” of the all-important gas sector in Trinidad and Tobago being “threatened”?
Yes, says Poten and Partners, the UK consultants hired to prepare the Natural Gas Master Plan by the previous People's Partnership (PP) administration.
Speech delivered by The Hon. Nicole Olivierre, Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago. January 18th, 2016
Trinidad & Tobago’s upstream capital investment levels have been sustained through 2015, despite the slashing of capital investment budgets across the globe. Speaking in Parliament in December 2015, Nicole Olivierre, Trinidad & Tobago’s newly installed Minister of Energy, revealed that investment levels in 2016 were predicted to be in the US$3.0 billion range in 2016, a similar level of 2015.
Speaking at the annual Trinidad & Tobago Energy Conference, Giselle Thompson, Vice President Corporate Operations, BP Trinidad and Tobago outlined details of the company’s impressive investment plans over the next few years.
BHP Billiton will be drilling two wildcat prospects in their Trinidad & Tobago deep-water acreage in 2016, with the possibility of a third well depending on the outcome of the first two wells.
I am sure that a significant number of persons will agree with the view that as an oil producing country we are at a critical juncture in our existence. Whether this situation becomes a crisis or not depends on our approach to survival and managing our affairs.
A year ago I stood before you and said that our industry should not let a downturn go to waste. My colleagues from the Energy Chamber also addressed lower commodity prices during their speeches.
First gas from the Sercan field is expected in the fourth quarter of 2016. The new development, that has received very little publicity, is located in the East Manzanilla Joint Venture Development Block located 65 km off the east coast of Trinidad.
Despite oil prices around the US$ 30 mark and downward pressure on the price of Trinidad & Tobago’s major export, liquefied natural gas (LNG), participation in what has become the biggest annual energy conference in the Caribbean region remains high.
Exxon has contracted the Stena Carron deep-water drillship to conduct their 2016 drilling campaign offshore Guyana.
Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Tobago is one of three cities in the Americas chosen to implement a Western Hemisphere Affairs-funded ECPA energy efficiency project. Under the project, the cities will work to lower energy consumption in municipal buildings through the development and implementation of sound energy efficiency policies over a three-year period. The other cities in the project are Goiania Brazil and Valdivia/Los Rios, Chile.
Two days before Christmas a front-page headline in the Business Express claimed that there had been 2,800 “oil job cuts and counting”. The article, by Aleem Khan, went on to explain that jobs in the oil and gas sector declined from 21,700 at the beginning of 2015 to 18,500 by mid-year – a 15% drop. This sounds extremely alarming and the journalist paints a picture of a crisis in employment brought about by the low price environment. But is this really what the data is telling us?
Caribbean Gas Chemical Ltd (CGCL), the company charged with the development of the new Methanol and Dimethyl Ether plant in Union Estate, La Brea, has partnered with the Energy Chamber to deliver PLEA training programmes and STOW awareness sessions for the La Brea community.
The introduction of new government players and policy actors into the energy sector usually requires a period of relationship building for the main energy companies.
At the Launch of the 2015 World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report on October 1st , 2015 Minister of Planning, Camille Robinson-Regis, noted Trinidad and Tobago’s ranking at position 89 out of 144 countries, for the second consecutive year.
Crude oil production (i.e. non-condensate production) in Trinidad declined from a peak of 229,527 barrels of oil per day in 1972 to an average of 66,784 barrels of oil per day in 2014. Based on a projection of this historical decline, crude oil production in 2020 and 2030 will be in the order of 50,000 barrels of oil per day and 20,000 barrels of oil per day, respectively.
