Senior Business Reporter
andrea.perez-sobers@guardian.co.tt
Woodside Energy is to resume natural gas production shortly, according to Energy Minister Stuart Young.
The ministry announced last Friday that an unplanned technical issue caused a major natural gas supplier to shut down its production.
The closure affected the four plants on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate production and consequently their earnings but did not affect the operations of the T&T Electricity Commission (T&TEC).
The supplier was later identified as Woodside Energy.
In response to questions from Guardian Media on Thursday as to when the gas production would resume, Young said the energy company informed him that its safety process has gone well.
He said it expects to resume its gas production on a phased basis shortly.
“I am hoping that Woodside manages to return to its full production levels soon,” the minister remarked.
Woodside also confirmed to Guardian Media that it is continuing to investigate the incident, which also affected its operations at the Greater Angostura oil and gas field offshore Trinidad.
“We are working towards a safe resumption of operations as soon as is practicable,” the statement said.
Woodside’s website stated that the Greater Angostura field is an offshore conventional oil and gas field located 38km northeast of Trinidad. The Angostura field was discovered in 1999, with the first oil achieved in January 2005 (Phase 1).
Phase 2 established gas sales in 2011.
The first gas for Angostura Phase 3 was established in September 2016. Ruby is a conventional offshore oil and gas field located within the Greater Angostura fields. The first oil was achieved in May 2021.
The company accounts for 13 per cent of T&T’s total natural gas output. This country’s largest natural gas producers are bpTT followed by Shell.
