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Lloyd’s Register Group (LR) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Energy business unit to Inspirit Capital, a London-based investment firm focused on building long-term value. The agreement follows a comprehensive review of LR’s business portfolio and strategic direction.
Shell EOI: Social Impact Assessment Services
Let me start by thanking my fellow Board members, and by extension the wider membership of the Energy Chamber, for the trust that you have placed in me. The Energy Chamber is an important institution with a long and distinguished history, and I am honoured and humbled by the opportunity to lead the organisation. I would like to especially thank Eugene Tiah, who has stepped down today after three years as Chairman and many more as a Board member. Eugene has been an exemplary leader in the energy sector, with a well-deserved reputation for his calm, structured and even-handed approach to difficult situations and in making tough decisions. On behalf of the entire sector thank-you for all your hard work and dedication.
bpTT has announced that they have commenced work on the Matapal field development and the project is on track for first gas in 2022.
bp Trinidad and Tobago LLC (bpTT) announced the safe start-up of the Galeota expansion project (GEP). The project has been under construction since late 2016 and was started up on 28 September 2020. Its completion is a major milestone for bpTT.
Monday 28th September 2020 saw the inaugural loadout of methanol from the Port of Brighton, La Brea. This cargo of methanol was produced from Caribbean Gas Chemical Limited (CGCL) located at Union Industrial Estate, La Brea, which is an industrial estate owned by National Energy Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (National Energy), a subsidiary of NGC. CGCL, a joint venture enterprise with NGC as one of the equity investors, is a locally registered and operated company formed to oversee the project development stage of the Complex.
SBM Offshore has confirmed the award of contracts for the next phase of the Payara development project located in the Stabroek block in Guyana. Under these contracts, SBM Offshore will construct, install and then lease and operate the Prosperity FPSO for a period of up to two years.
ExxonMobil has made its final investment decision to proceed with the Payara field offshore development in Guyana after receiving government approvals. Payara is the third project in the Stabroek Block and is expected to produce up to 220,000 barrels of oil per day after startup in 2024, using the Prosperity floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
The new coronavirus and climate change have many similarities. Both are global and highlight the dangers of ignoring experts and scientific data. They do not respect national borders and no one is immune from their impacts. Only joint actions will effectively control the pandemic or mitigate the scale of climate change.
In many parts of the world, renewable energy (RE) has been integrated in some way into local electricity grids. This has been done in several Caribbean countries, including Suriname and Jamaica. The increased utilisation of renewable energy is consistent with countries’ commitment to the Paris Agreement, but also is being used as a strategy to bolster energy security and diversify sources of energy. Because of this global push, renewables share in electricity has increased from 18% in 2000 to 25% in 2018. The greatest source of renewable energy globally comes from hydropower. Note that in countries like Germany and the UK, installed RE capacity accounted for 41.99% and 33% of generation capacity respectively in 2018. Costa Rica and Uruguay have systems which are close to 100% powered by renewables. (Costa Rica for over 250 days in 2016 ran entirely on renewable energy and in 2015, 98.1% of its energy came from renewables).
The singular phenomenon of COVID-19 has resulted in massive shocks to economic and social systems over the last few months. It was with this knowledge in mind that the European Union Delegation in collaboration with Cropper Foundation, IAMovement and United Nations organised a panel discussion that focused on a critical question: how do we ‘Build Back Better’ post COVID-19? As countries around the world take stock of the economic damage caused by the pandemic and make plans to return to ‘normal’, there have been concerted calls to reject a ‘business as usual’ paradigm.
A United Nations report describes governance as the exercise of political and administrative authority at all levels to manage a country’s affairs. It comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences. In keeping with the description, this article proffers that civil society (CS) can play a greater role in developing a country’s policies, transformation strategies and reporting and monitoring mechanisms for how resources are allocated.
At the time of writing, Trinidad and Tobago is in the midst of a sharp spike in our coronavirus cases and like a lot of other people in the country, I am back to working from home. Since the original lockdown in March 2020, I have only actually been into my office in Point Lisas a handful of times. Our offices remain open mainly to provide the essential training and certification services that we need to deliver to the industry, but like many of our members, our policy remains that whoever can work from home, should work from home.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Energy Policy and Regulations Help Desk has now been established. The Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) Technical Assistance Programme for Sustainable Energy in the Caribbean (TAPSEC) was utilised to develop the Help Desk.
The successful ExxonMobil (Exxon) campaign in Guyana has been halted due to lengthy delays in approvals for the Payara project.
According to Predator Oil and Gas (Predator), the company served written notice on July 14th 2020 of its intent to exercise its option to enter into a share purchase agreement to acquire the entire outstanding issued share capital of FRAM Exploration Trinidad Ltd (FRAM) assuming zero net debt at the time of completion, and subject to contract, technical, legal and commercial due diligence.
Tullow Oil (Tullow) and project partners plan to spud a wildcat early next year offshore Suriname. The intended drilling will be for the Goliathberg- Voltzberg North prospect (GVN-1) in Block 47. The Stena Forth drillship has received the contract and will carry out the campaign in Block 47, around 160 miles north of Suriname.
The Pt. Lisas Energy Association (PLEA) has engaged the Trinidad and Tobago Laboratory Accreditation Service (TTLABS), a Department of the Trinidad & Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS), to provide auditing services for its Drug and Alcohol Testing Certification Programme. The programme is aimed at improving the reliability of drug and alcohol test results that are offered as proof of sobriety among the contractor workforce.
Subsea 7 announced the award of a sizeable contract for work offshore Trinidad and Tobago. According to the company, the size of the contract is between US$50 million and US$150 million.
Oojagaree Jagoo, Managing Director of Ecosol and OJ’s Electrical, has created what he calls a sustainable, environmental innovation to the oil and gas waste disposal industry in Trinidad and Tobago.
