Page 5 - GLNG Week 11 2023

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

Stuart Richard Young,
the Minister of Energy
and Energy Industries
of Trinidad and Tobago.

volumes of gas will help shore up production with Union Radio, a Venezuela radio station, he
levels at Trinidad and Tobago’s Atlantic LNG estimated that the Trinidadian official’s timeline
plant, whose shareholders are slated to sign an was off by at least 50% and said that more infor-
agreement with the government next month on mation was needed to make an accurate guess.
the reorganisation of their shareholder structur- “[The development of Dragon] requires
ing, he said. money, people [and] time, and we don’t know if
Atlantic LNG has been running low on feed- it’s a priority,” he remarked. “Then, it remains as
stock for the last few years, and Shell had been a pending task. Who will be the visible face of the
eyeing the possibility of pumping Venezuelan Venezuelan side, which is responsible for paying
gas from the Dragon field across the maritime taxes and royalties? This is not so easy and fast.”
border to Hibiscus, one of its Trinidadian gas He added: “It will not happen in the next
fields, when it signed the original development three years.”
deal in 2018. The multi-national’s idea had been
to build a local pipeline or tie-back system to link Filling the gaps
the two fields and then use existing infrastruc- Alvarado’s points are worth consideration, es-
ture to move Dragon gas from Hibiscus to the pecially since the Dragon project has remained
Atlantic LNG plant. The plan was suspended due on hold for years because of the US sanctions
to the imposition of US sanctions, but it is now regime.
in play again. No exploration work has been done, and no
And according to Young, it could take effect preparations have been made at the field. No new
sooner rather than later. The minister told Reu- onshore infrastructure has been put in place, and
ters on March 10 that gas from the Dragon field any existing infrastructure has likely been left to
might technically begin flowing in as little as two rust or fall apart because of the obstacles PdVSA
years. faces whenever it tries to find replacement parts
and equipment (or foreign experts capable of
More time needed? assisting with maintenance and repairs).
Unfortunately, Young’s optimism may be over- Despite Young’s hopes, then, it does seem
stated. unlikely that Caracas and Port of Spain will suc-
Antero Alvarado, managing partner for Ven- ceed in launching gas production at the Dragon
ezuela at the Gas Energy Latin America (GELA) field within the next two years. NGC and PdVSA
consultancy, believes that NGC, PdVSA and therefore have little hope of achieving their
Shell will need more than two years to bring desired ends before the sanctions waiver expires.
Dragon on stream. During a recent interview Venezuelan government officials have probably

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