Dry wells

THE EDITOR: I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings. Do not shoot the messenger. Comprehend the message.

Recent reports indicate many empty gas wells. TT's largest natural gas producer is BPTT.

Empty gas wells have many implications. One is the uncertainty of Atlantic LNG (ALNG) Train 1 which received a 20-year tax holiday when it came on line in 1999.

No offence Prince. The honeymoon period is over. This facility could be mothballed like Petrotrin and Mital Steel.

After 2019 where is the natural gas for Train 1 going to come from?

This will cause a loss of revenue in taxes from the production of oil and gas and the export of LNG. It will affect TTNGL and Phoenix Park Gas Processors which will have fewer liquids to process due to a reduction in the volume of gas available for process. It will damage TT's confidence in the downstream sector which suffered from natural gas curtailment recently.

The recent drilling results confirms there is inherent uncertainty in the subsurface. BpTT, TT's largest natural gas producer supplies 400 million standard cubic feet of gas to ALNG Train 1. This is potentially a loss of hundreds of millions in revenue and puts economic recovery at risk.

We are depending on natural gas production to drive economic growth. This will terminate our plan to increase natural gas production.

The oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil.

AV RAMPERSAD

PRINCES TOWN.