PM tells Qatar summit: Natural gas will fuel post-covid19 recovery

NATURAL gas will provide the energy needed to help rebuild economies and lay the seeds for economic growth, as the world slowly emerges from the covid19 pandemic.

The Prime Minister expressed this view when he addressed the Sixth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday.

Dr Rowley and Energy Minister Stuart Young left Trinidad and Tobago for Qatar on February 18. The summit began on February 20 and ended on Tuesday.

Rowley told delegates that as a country affected by the pandemic, TT identified with the summit's theme, "Championing Natural Gas for post-covid19 recovery and sustainable development."

He said, " Pre-covid19 the domestic energy sector, based on the Government’s strategies, was enjoying a major upturn. The pandemic curtailed this momentum by delaying the implementation of new upstream projects."

Issues affecting the domestic energy sector as a result of the pandemic, Rowley continued, have been managed by the Government in collaboration with upstream energy producers.

"The recovery is on track. As a consequence several upstream projects, primarily gas projects came on stream in 2021 and a number of gas projects are in the pipeline for 2022."

In addition, he said, "In the medium to long term several gas projects are in the appraisal and sanctioning phases."

These include deep-water projects with estimated gas reserves of 6.6 trillion cubic feet and the Manatee cross-border field, which adjoins the Venezuelan Loran field. He thanked the Venezuelan government for agreeing to the independent development of these cross-border energy fields which straddle the TT-Venezuela maritime border.

Government gave the green light to proceed with the Manatee development in June 2019. On January 5, the National Gas Company (NGC) signed a heads of agreement with Shell to start the pre-front end engineering design phase for the processing of Manatee gas through its Beachfield facility

TT and Venezuela previously had an agreement for exploration in the Loran/Manatee field until 2018, when disagreements over the gas price and US-imposed oil sanctions caused the negotiations to fail.

Sanctions from the US also scuttled a separate project in which TT was negotiating to buy gas from Venezuela’s offshore Dragon field.

Shell began negotiations with TT in February last year, with the intention of producing content from the 2.7 tcf (trillion cubic feet) Manatee gas field with production hoping to begin as early as 2025.

. Rowley said, "It is this spirit of co-operation that will serve to strengthen and sustain the GECF as the leading energy organisation in the global gas market.

"As the domestic energy sector continues to drive the economy and help transition it into a low carbon one, Rowley said, "As a small island state and an oil and gas economy, we recognise our responsibility to transition to a local carbon economy according to a practical timetable driven by our own circumstances."

With the cost of reducing TT's carbon footprint, in keeping with its nationally determined contributions under its UN Climate Change pledge, being estimated at US$2 billion, Rowley said, "Outside of international financing, revenue from our energy sector and in particular the monetisation of natural gas, will be a major input in our transitioning to low-carbon economy."

Rowley reminded delegates that the Industrial Revolution saw a shift from coal to crude oil and natural gas, in the transition towards cleaner sources of energy.

"The reality is that oil and gas will continue to play a significant role in meeting global primary energy requirements for the foreseeable future. It is in this scenario that TT’s gas industry is positioned."