Apr 2017 Financial News

NGC chairman on negotiations with bpTT. New gas supply deal 'substantially completed'

Apr 03, 2017

One day after bpTT said that it had “reached agreement on key terms” for a new gas sales agreement to state-owned National Gas Company, NGC chairman Gerry Brooks said yesterday he was “pleased to announce that the NGC team has substantially completed negotiations on a new supply agreement which would support the sanction of the Angelin project”, the next large natural gas field that bpTT hopes to monetise.

In its statement Thursday, bpTT quoted its regional president, Norman Christie, as saying: “We are please that negotiations with NGC on a new gas sales agreement have reached this critical milestone. Finalising the gas sales agreement will pave the way for the Angelin project and future investments.”

Christie added that bpTT “recognises the critical need for increased production from indigenous gas resources” and that the company intends to have Angelin put into production by 2019. Reaching agreement with NGC on key contractual terms has preserved Angelin’s project timeline which anticipates the start of production in early 2019.”

In a statement yesterday. NGC said Brooks and the company’s president, Mark Loquan, both advised: “Angelin will build upon recent game-changing initiatives in T&T, such as the Trinidad Offshore Compression (TROC), Juniper, and Dragon projects. Angelin gas development project, coupled with these projects, will stabilize gas production against projected decline.”

NGC also noted that similar discussions are taking place with other upstream companies, including Shell, who is a partner on the historic Dragon project with Venezuelan state oil and gas company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA).

Brooks noted that the discussions were progressing actively. He stated that meetings continued in Trinidad earlier this week, with the formation of the commercial and technical teams.

All parties are working to the timely completion of the gas supply agreement and have agreed to move forward with greater collaboration.

Both the Chairman and President have indicated that in order to pre-empt future gas shortage situations in Trinidad and Tobago, discussions and negotiations around future projects must be conducted with the appropriate lead times.

On Thursday, bpTT added: “While both parties work on the finalisation of the gas sales contract, bpTT maintains its focus on a significant investment programme in 2017, with plans to spend US$1.5 billion in finding and developing gas resources.”

The statement indicated that “timely completion of the gas sales contract” would support potential investments of roughly US$5 to US$6 billion from 2017-2022.

Source:
Trinidad Guardian
Saturday April 1, 2017

http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2017-03-31/new-gas-supply-deal-%E2%80%98substantially-completed%E2%80%99