Trinidad’s LNG production down 9 pct in Jan

Trinidad and Tobago’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) production has dropped again due to ongoing gas supply shortfalls in the country.

LNG production at the Point Fortin liquefaction and export facility was down 8.7 percent in January year-on-year to 2.2 million cubic meters, according to the data by Trinidad’s Ministry of Energy.

LNG sales and deliveries from Atlantic LNG’s 14.8 mtpa export facility came to 52 million MMBtu, a drop of 7.8 percent on year, the data said.

Trinidad’s LNG production has been declining for two years due to gas shortages in the country caused by a lack in upstream investment and upgrades to gas infrastructure.

The country’s gas production dropped 12.3 percent on year averaging 3.3 Bcf/d in January.

Atlantic LNG said in November last year it expects 2017 to be the worst year yet in terms of production due to the shortages. The company had suffered on average over 30% gas supply shortage, equating to something like 75 LNG cargoes lost each year.

Atlantic LNG produces the chilled fuel from natural gas delivered from offshore fields north and east of Trinidad owned and operated by affiliates of Atlantic’s members and others.

The company is owned by BP, Shell, China’s sovereign wealth fund CIC unit Summer Soca and Trinidad’s state-owned company NGC.

LNG World News Staff