Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 35 2021

LatAmOil TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO LatAmOil

“Although there are several projects that will with a combined capacity of 14.8mn tonnes per
deliver significant quantities of gas by the start year (tpy). The facility has four different sets of
of 2023, we cannot predict when there will be a owners, or one set for each of its four produc-
significant reversal of the slide in LNG output,” tion trains. Train 1 is owned 46% by Royal Dutch
they said. Shell (UK/Netherlands), 34% by BP (UK), 10%
Argus contacted the Energy Ministry follow- by Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Co.
ing the latter’s publication of new data showing (NGC) and 10% by China Investment Corp.
that the country’s gas and LNG production had (CIC). Meanwhile, Trains 2 and 3 are owned
sunk in the first five months of this year. The 57.5% by Shell and 42.5% by BP, while Train 4
dataset shows that companies working in the is owned 51.11% by Shell, 37.78% by BP, and
country’s offshore and onshore zones extracted 11.11% by NGC.
2.73bn cubic feet (77.31mn cubic metres) per Currently, Train 1 is idle. It was taken offline
day between January and May, down by about earlier this year for a turnaround maintenance
20% on the year-ago figure. It also puts total programme, and news agencies in Trinidad and
LNG production in the January-May period at Tobago have said the shutdown may become
the equivalent of 7.17 mcm per day, marking a permanent, owing to questions about feedstock
39% year-on-year drop. supplies and a proposal for reorganisation of the
The ministry has also reported that Atlan- shareholder roster. ™
tic LNG turned out the equivalent of 1.1 mcm
per day of LNG in May. This was 19% below the
April figure and was the lowest monthly average
recorded in the last 18 years. Also in May, local
producers sent about 33.3% of total gas output,
or 910mn cubic feet (25.77 mcm) per day, to
Atlantic LNG for processing.
Trinidad and Tobago’s gas output peaked in
2017, averaging 4.3 bcf (121.8 mcm) per day.
The drop stems partly from the fact that BP,
which has been Atlantic LNG’s main supplier of
feedstock, did not benefit as much as anticipated
from an infill drilling project that was designed
to support production levels. But the trend also
gained momentum last year, as the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic undercut global energy
demand.
Atlantic LNG has four production trains Only one of Atlantic LNG’s four production trains is operational (File Photo)

VENEZUEL A
Venezuelan company reportedly buys

Inpex’s stakes in two JVs

JAPAN’S Inpex has sold its stake in two Vene- purchased the 70% stake that Inpex held in the
zuelan joint ventures to a local company, accord- joint venture, as well as the 30% stake that Ven-
ing to a report from Reuters. ezuela’s national oil company (NOC) PdVSA
Sources familiar with the matter told the held. As of press time, it was not clear whether
news agency last week that Inpex had sold its Sucre had done the same for Gas Guarico, which
equity stakes in Petroguarico, a joint venture was previously divided between Impex with
formed to extract oil from the Guarico Oriental 30% and PdVSA with 70%.
section of the East Guarico block, and Gas Guar- Bloomberg’s sources said that Sucre had
ico, a separate joint venture that focuses on the been more interested in Gas Guarico than in
production of non-associated gas from the Copa Petroguarico but agreed to buy Inpex’s stake in
Macoya section. They did not comment on the the latter in order to obtain the former.
value of the deal but noted that the Japanese firm The gas-focused joint venture may be a more
had sold both of the stakes to a Venezuelan com- attractive asset because Venezuelan law permits
pany known as Sucre Energy Group. privately owned companies to hold majority
According to the sources, Sucre now stakes in and serve as operators of gas fields, it
owns 100% of equity in Petroguarico, as it has added.

Week 35 02•September•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7