Riding
LNG shotgun
By
Sean Douglas
Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
03 18 07
MINISTER
of Energy, Dr Lenny Saith, is glowing over the treaty
between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela to jointly
exploit their shared Loran gas-field, holding ten
trillion cubic feet proven reserves.
“This
is the first cross-border unitisation treaty in
the Americas, and there are only eight such treaties
that exist worldwide,” he said.
“Once
we sign this treaty then we can begin to work on
developing the first field that we are looking at
which is the Loran-Manatee Field which is estimated
to hold ten trillion cubic feet of proven reserves
of gas, 27 percent of which belongs to Trinidad
and Tobago, roughly 2.6 or 2.7 trillion cubic feet,”
he said.
Unitisation
means that the gas-field, straddling the two countries’
maritime border, is explored as a single unit. Saith
said Trinidad and Tobago in this case is entitled
to a 27 percent share of the reserves. Pressed as
to how TT might use its share of the gas, he said
both countries had to agree together on how the
gas was to be used as a single unit.
“It
has the potential to be another train on LNG but
both parties have to agree that is what they want
to do with it.” he said.
He
emphasised TT’s “share” of the
gas will not be separated from Venezuela’s
share, but that both would be utilised together.
“It’s
a field so the gas has to be treated as a unit;
that’s why it’s called unitisation.
So it’s not that we could take 27 percent
of the gas and do what we want with it, because
you have to drill, you have to put pipelines to
where it’s going to be used. Therefore commercially
you find a way of agreeing as both parties how you
would use the gas. When it gets into the pipeline
you can’t separate what is ‘Trinidad
gas’ and what is ‘Venezuelan gas.’”
He
said he was being very cautious not to make any
unilateral statements as to how the unitised gas
is to be used.
Saith
ducked questions as to how TT’s share of these
gas reserves would be utilised saying that such
comments would be improper at this stage. He said
the treaty was merely a framework agreement between
both countries, and specific details could progressively
be filled in later.
The
agreement was jointly developed by representatives
of both governments, namely a Steering Committee
established in August 2003 and a legal sub-committee
established on February 8 2007.
“That
legal team has been able after nine meetings to
develop a framework agreement that has been initialled
by both sides,” Saith said.
He
said the treaty deals with the determination and
allocation of the volumes of gas; the distribution
of costs and benefits; the construction and operation
installations for exploration and of cross-border
pipeline : “If you are getting the gas out
it needs to be in a manner that is coordinated and
agreed upon.”
He
said Prime Minister Patrick Manning has been authorised
to soon sign the treaty after which detailed negotiations
will be held to decide how to develop the Loran-Manatee
Field including how to develop the field and commercialise
the gas present.
“We
will have to decide what do we do with the gas,
how do we commercialise it? I’m not going
to prejudge what that is,” he said at a Cabinet
press briefing last week.
Saith
declined to say if the TT Government wants the gas
reserves to be used to process liquid natural gas
(LNG) in Trinidad, as was being done by Atlantic
LNG at Point Fortin.
“I’m
not going to prejudge. This is a partnership. It
would be the wishes of both sides as to what is
the best way to utilise this gas. We have an open
mind. We want to hear what our partners would say.
Our objective of course would be to maximise the
monetary value of the gas,” the energy minister,
said.
Trinidad
& Tobago's Newsday
Thursday, March 15 2007
Copyright
©2007 Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday All Rights
Reserved.
