Trinidad and Tobago’s sole LNG producing company, Atlantic LNG is set to reduce its permanent workforce by 7 percent as it faces “the toughest period” in its history.
The company said some 50 employees will be laid off as gas supply shortfall hampered the facility’s production. Over the last two years, the Atlantic LNG’s utilization rates have declined below 70 percent due to the gas supply shortages.
To alleviate the effects of the gas shortages, Atlantic LNG is looking to streamline its activities in order to adapt to the challenging environment.
Despite the current challenges, Nigel Darlow , Atlantic LNG’s CEO, believes Trinidad and Tobago will remain a competitive LNG producer, saying new liquefied natural gas volumes coming from Australia and the United States will not pose a challenge due to their higher development costs.
However, to maintain its competitive advantage Trinidad & Tobago must ensure that there is a steady and reliable source of gas supply.
UK-based energy giant and LNG player BP recently started up its onshore compression (TROC) project to provide additional volumes for the Atlantic LNG plant.
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 facility’s four LNG trains have a total production capacity of 15 million tons per year.
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