Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has announced that Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela have rescinded their agreement to jointly exploit 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Loran Manatee field and would instead develop it independently.
Rowley said the continued US sanctions on the Bolivarian Republic had made it all but impossible to jointly develop the gas and as a result, the two countries will go independently.
With this in mind, Royal Dutch Shell—who is the 100 percent operator of the Manatee block—has agreed to develop it and already has started planning its development.
Rowley noted that this should add roughly 275 to 400 million standard cubic feet of gas by 2024, and be a game changer,
The gas will be in the shallow water and should be able to come on stream in fewer than five years.
In a wide ranging address at the opening ceremony of the Energy Chamber's Annual Energy Conference, Rowley said he expected the natural gas shortages to come to an end by 2024. He also predicted an increase in crude production to 90,000 barrels of oil per day by 2022 as BHP brings on its Ruby project.
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Story by CURTIS WILLIAMS
