Trinidad & Tobago looks to develop a small-scale LNG hub to serve the Caribbean, Europe and maybe even South Africa, reports Riviera.
About the workshop
The workshop drew attendees from all over the Caribbean; representatives came from Colombia, Dominican Republic, Trinidad itself and many others. There was a general consensus that small-scale LNG was a great opportunity for the region. This was two years before US LNG export projects were online.
Since then, not much has changed for small LNG shipping in the country. Several companies have tried to load small LNG vessels in Trinidad & Tobago but for one reason or another, no one has managed to do it yet.
Now, after all these years, Trinidad & Tobago’s state-owned gas company has begun work on a small-scale LNG hub.
This might be a consequence of another important announcement in January, which revealed that the US issued a licence to Trinidad & Tobago to develop a Venezuelan offshore gas field.
This development of a small-scale LNG hub for the region comes a bit late to my liking but to be completely fair, the timing I originally suggested was probably way too early to start something like this. The potential market took longer to develop in that region and still, today, there are plenty of opportunities to grow in delivering small quantities of LNG by ship to the other countries around Trinidad. These small deliveries can also, in the future, be transformed into long-haul deliveries to South America and in some cases, even to Europe or South Africa.
LNG
Let me elaborate on that last part: small-scale LNG carriers can deliver LNG across the Atlantic easily. We tend to consider them as short-haul ships but they are vessels that have evolved from the petrochemical tankers that carry ethylene and other gases and they are perfectly capable of transporting LNG for long periods of time in optimal conditions. A small carrier (6,000 or 7,000 m3) could easily be used to transport LNG from Trinidad & Tobago to the Mediterranean.
Both Europe and South Africa are in the middle of an energy crisis that requires thinking outside the box. Europe is still immersed in a war with no end in sight; several FSRUs and a mild winter are helping sort out the crisis, but Europe’s luck might run out.
South Africa on the other hand is far away from Trinidad & Tobago but still it might be the closest place to load small LNG cargoes, considering that no one else has been able to commit to do anything similar, apart from maybe some European ports; and South Africa needs solutions quickly to its energy crisis. The country has capital and good reasons to quickly start new projects.
Trinidad is still on time to make good use of a small-scale LNG hub, but it should do it fast, before the US behemoths wake up and realise that small-scale LNG markets can also be very profitable and decide to enter that market, too.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe
Source: Riviera
