Khan: TT has 14 years of gas

THE 2017 Ryder Scott Report said this country has gas reserves to last the next 14 years and seven months, Energy Minister Franklin Khan told the Senate yesterday (Monday) in reply to a question by Opposition Senator Wade Mark.

While the report contains sensitive information which for commercial reasons cannot be disclosed, Khan promised an abridged version would be made available.

The audit was done from March 2018-August 2018.

All three classes had increased since the year before.

The proven reserves increased from 9.92 trillion cubic feet (tcf) to 10.52 tcf, up by six per cent. The probable reserves rose from 5.38 tcf to 6.13 tcf, up by 13 per cent. The possible reserves were up from 4.72 tcf to 5.39 tcf, up by 12 per cent.

Khan then presumably totalled the proven (10.52 tcf) and probable (6.13 tcf) reserves, and divided by an extraction rate of 1.14 tcf per year, to calculate how long the reserves would last.

“The reserves-to-production ratio, based on 2P reserves, which are the sum of the proved reserves and probable reserves, using a production rate of 1.14 tcf for 2017, was 14.6 years.”

He said this period was an increase from 12.6 years, calculated the year before.

“Year 2017 is the first year to reflect a year-on-year increase in reserves since 2004,” he pointed out.

Mark, in a supplemental question, asked what factors had caused more gas to be produced, but Senate president Christine Kangaloo disallowed it.