Energy Chamber welcomes Grenada gas initiative

THE Energy Chamber has welcomed statements from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Energy Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal about government's intentions to explore natural gas resources located in Grenada's maritime waters.

Persad-Bissessar and Moonilal made their respective statements during and after a swearing-in ceremony for government ministers and parliamentary secretaries at President's House, St Ann's on May 3.

In a statement on May 4, the chamber said, "Gas was discovered in the waters between Grenada and Trinidad in 2017 with the Nutmeg well, but there has been very limited information about the find since then."

When the field was being explored, the chamber continued, all of the support services for the programme were staged through Trinidad, with the active involvement of its member companies in the services sector.

The chamber was optimistic that if Nutmeg could be economically developed, there would be an excellent opportunity to export gas into the TT's gas network through existing infrastructure.

"The downstream petrochemical and LNG industry in Trinidad could quickly monetise any gas resources in Grenada."

The chamber said a partnership between TT and Grenada "presents an exciting opportunity to develop these resources for the benefit of both economies."

In 2012, the then UNC-led People's Partnership (PP) coalition government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Grenada to advance joint exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the maritime areas between the two countries.

In October 2017 then Grenada prime minister Dr Keith Mitchell cautiously confirmed the Global Petroleum Group (GPG) found indications of natural gas in a well in the Nutmeg field.

But he said that further evaluation was needed before Grenada could claim its first commercial natural gas discovery.

The well was later plugged and abandoned without testing.

In 2019, Grenadian energy minister John Ogiste said a US-based Chinese company had partnered with GPG to develop the infrastructure that would allow for the development of potential energy resources in its maritime space.

Ogiste said in 2019 that the infrastructure for the well had not yet been defined. He said the company would have to drill three more wells to determine where the production well should be positioned.

Last year GPG signed an agreement with Nigerian-based oil and gas company Oceangate.

The deal involves a production-sharing arrangement with Grenada’s government for 38 years. The deal covers about 7,500 square km of offshore zones.

An article posted on the Energy News website last October said this project had the potential to reach US$8 billion depending on exploration results and production capacity.

On May 3, former energy minister Stuart Young said in 2018, the then PNM government signed an energy MOU with Grenada. Young was expected to provide details of this at a news conference on May 4.

The article also noted TT's well-established refining infrastructure and Nigerian company Oando PLC has made an application to the government which could see a restart of the former Petrotrin refinery.

On May 3, Moonilal said he would review documents on this matter and then report to Persad-Bissessar.

Persad-Bissessar also said TT would explore energy collaboration with Guyana and Suriname.

In a May 5 Kaiteur News article, Guyana vice-president Bharrat Jagdeo said Guyana was at the time considering at least three options to monetise its gas resources.

But he added processing Guyana's gas in TT was another alternative which should be explored.

Jagdeo recalled TT previously engaged Guyana on whether its gas could be exported to TT through a pipeline.

He said since the US revoked the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), licence for the Dragon gas project last month, TT had not reached out to Guyana formally on the issue.