Trinidad and Tobago’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) production declined almost 9 percent in the first half of this year due to ongoing gas supply shortfalls in the twin-island country.
LNG production at Atlantic LNG’s Point Fortin liquefaction and export facility dropped to 11.7 million cubic meters in the January-June period as compared to 12.8 million cubic meters the year before, according to the data by Trinidad’s Ministry of Energy.
LNG sales and deliveries from the 14.8 mtpa export facility came to 267 million MMBtu, down 6.7 percent on year, the data showed.
Trinidad’s production has been falling over the past four years due to gas shortages in the country caused by a lack of upstream investment and upgrades to gas infrastructure.
The country’s gas production dropped 6.3 percent on year, averaging 3.2 Bcf/d in the period under review.
To remind, Atlantic said earlier this year it expects to reduce its permanent workforce by 7 percent as it faces “the toughest period” in its history.
The company said then some 50 employees would be laid off as gas supply shortfall hampered the facility’s production.
Over the last two years, Atlantic LNG’s utilization rates have declined below 70 percent due to the shortages.
Atlantic produces LNG from natural gas delivered from offshore fields north and east of Trinidad owned and operated by affiliates of the company’s members and others.
The LNG producing 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