Trinidad and Tobago’s natural gas production has rebounded following maintenance activities by three major producers, the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI) said in a September 2 release.
This follows an OilNOW report that output in June was 1.96 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), representing the lowest month average in 22 years.
The MEEI advised that this decrease of 22% from the prior month was caused by maintenance activities conducted by three major upstream producers.
“These maintenance activities, undertaken by major energy players bpTT, Woodside and Shell were planned a year in advance and are an essential component of compliance with government regulations,” the MEEI stated.
It said among these activities were proactive turnaround measures to ensure the safety of personnel on the respective facilities, as well as production optimization and efficiency processes.
The decrease in natural gas production in June was sheltered in the value chain due to planned turnarounds at Train IV at Atlantic LNG, Point Lisas Nitrogen Limited and the Urea plant at Nutrien Ltd, the Ministry said.
The statement did not mention Woodside’s process safety incident which led to a production halt. In July, The Ministry said that this incident significantly reduced gas supply, affecting the end users.
The Ministry said preliminary data shows gas production increased to 2.3 bcf/d in July, and further to 2.7 bcf/d in August. It said production in the fourth quarter is projected to average 2.5 bcf/d.
Based on production so far and the fourth quarter projection, T&T’s natural gas output could average 2.5 bcf/d in the full year.
