Important, but becoming less so
In 2009 Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) consumed just under 10% of Latin America's gas and produced 19.8% of the total. Over the next five years, however, other countries in the region will produce more, so T&T's share of regional output will drop by about a percentage point. By 2014, however, T&T will account for almost 11% of the region's natural gas consumption.
Even though its market share will fall, T&T's gas production will increase substantially. In 2009, it produced about 43bn cubic metres (cm), or 1.51 trillion cubic feet (tcf). By 2014, production should be running at 56bn cm. Exports should increase by about 5bn cm by 2014, to around 28bn cm. Most of these exports will be in the form of LNG.
T&T has about 500bn cubic metres of natural gas reserves. South America, the Caribbean and Mexico has a total of just over 8 trillion cubic metres but 60% of these proven reserves are in Venezuela.
Production in T&T has been rising, but rather more slowly in recent years. The big strategic decision was taken a decade ago to invest heavily in LNG plants. The country has benefited from a large amount of foreign investment into the sector, with BP Trinidad and Tobago (BPTT) leading these efforts. Other important players in the natural gas sector include British Gas (BG) and the US firm Chevron. In October 2009, BPTT brought the Savonette field on stream, at a rate of 600m cubic feet per day (mcf/d).
T&T is the largest supplier of LNG to the US and one of the largest LNG exporters in the world. In 2008, it exported 264bn cf of natural gas to the US, about 75% of total US LNG net imports, but this was only 1% of the total US natural gas supply. US LNG imports from T&T in 2008 were almost half the amount received in 2007, reflecting the general decline in total US LNG imports in 2008. This trend continued into the first half of 2009, with imports from T&T near year-earlier levels.
T&T's only other big market for LNG is Spain, which imported 2.09bn cubic metres in 2007. Puerto Rico was the next biggest market, taking 740m cubic metres. The sluggish US demand has prompted T&T to go after new markets. Some are regional (such as Brazil) but most LNG shipments go to Europe and Asian markets.
The Atlantic LNG Company, a consortium led by BP, BG, and Repsol-YPF, operates four LNG trains at Point Fortin, on the south-western coast of Trinidad. The first LNG train was completed in March 1999, with subsequent trains completed in 2002, 2003 and 2006. The four trains have the capacity to produce a combined 14.8m metric tons (710bn cubic feet or 20.1bn cubic metres) of LNG per year. There have been discussions between Atlantic LNG and the T&T government about the construction of two new trains. Besides exporting LNG, T&T is also looking at developing its petrochemical industry further to cash in on its gas deposits.
Other Caribbean: Other Caribbean countries, notably Jamaica, are looking at using natural gas as an alternative to oil. In the Dominican Republic, AES operates the Andrés facility, an LNG regasification terminal that feeds two gas-fired power plants. In August 2000, Puerto Rico began importing LNG to supply the EcoEléctrica facility, a 540-MW natural gas-fired power plant.