Shell is back and better than ever

Gas giant Royal Dutch Shell was one of the earliest investors in the local energy industry in TT, establishing itself in the country over 100 years ago, in 1913 and on Tuesday, it was eager to reinforce its commitment.

On Wednesday, Shell invited two of its most senior officials— group chairman Chad Holliday and director of integrated gas and new energies, Maarten Wetselaar—to address a luncheon of some of this country’s top businessmen, energy executives and politicians at the Hyatt Regency.

“By building this partnership, we will do great things together,” Wetselaar said.
The company had all but left TT in 1974, when its assets were nationalised, but with the company’s acquisition of BG in 2015, it came back in a big way and with big plans to not just increase its gas exploration and production, but to make TT a hub for gas processing. Shell is the biggest shareholder in liquefied natural gas producer Atlantic’s Point Fortin plant.

“We have a focused goal and we’ve put our money where our mouth is to turnaround gas,” Wetselaar said. In addition to BGTT’s assets, over the last two years the company also acquired the assets of Chevron and Centrica, investing over US$500 million, with plans for billions more. Earlier this year, the company announced new gas from its Starfish field and Dolphin extension project. It hopes to have a total of seven drills operating in TT, producing up to 300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.
But the company is also interested in going beyond TT’s borders, playing a crucial role in the Dragon gas deal signed last month between TT and Venezuela, including a commercial deal between Shell, Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and the National Gas Company.

Its cross-border connection between the huge, untapped gas reserves of offshore Venezuela to the efficient gas processing in TT, Wetselaar said, will not only bring about economic prosperity but political connections for stability in the region that will go beyond the gas agreement.

“We are working closely with (all parties) to fulfil that dream and we are very proud to sign. The next step is to sign a detailed gas agreement to get on with it and get the gas to flow and create further stability in the region,” he said.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who delivered the feature address, remarked that now Shell has returned, this time, the country expects that they are here to stay.

He also referred to the Spotlight on Energy conference in March, when he slammed energy multinationals for taking advantage of the country. “We were not satisfied that we were not getting the kinds of returns on the industry that we would expect,” he said, but he praised Shell for being willing to listen to the country’s reasoning. “Our relationship with Shell is based on mutual respect,” Rowley said.

The success of Dragon, he added, means that the country can also start moving forward quickly with a plan for Loran Manatee, a cross-border field with about a quarter in TT territory and the rest in Venezuela. Shell is one of the operators with the rights to drill the field.