Welcome Launched on June 1, 2002 and published bimonthly, ENERGY Caribbean is a subscription-based magazine and the first publication of its type ever devoted exclusively to the energy industry in the Caribbean. The annual ENERGY Caribbean Yearbook, a survey of developments in the year in energy gone by and outlook for the year ahead, is free to all subscribers, and is available for single purchase for non-subscribers.
• RISING GAS COSTS PRICING MAY SIDELINE CARIBBEAN LNG SALES As the cost of producing natural gas offshore Trinidad and Tobago rises, exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Atlantic in Point Fortin are less likely to be interested in the market for small LNG cargos which is expected to emerge in the Caribbean. So claims Derek Hudson, President of BG Trinidad and Tobago, whose group holds ownership in all four Atlantic trains and supplies a significant share of the gas that is liquefied there for export.
• DEEPWATER BLOCKS A NEW APPROACH TO BID ASSESSMENT? Trinidad and Tobago’s new Minister of Energy and Energy Affairs, Kevin Ramnarine, may be adopting a new approach to block auction determinations by entertaining bids even though the bidders have not met the minimum criteria for a work programme and/or production shares.
• BPTT THE CHALLENGE: KEEP COSTS DOWN Trinidad and Tobago’s biggest petroleum company, bpTT (462,000 boed in 2010), seems determined to shed the role of “swing gas producer” that has been imposed on it over the years, according to its new regional president, Norman Christie.
• THE BAHAMAS
STILL SEARCHING FOR OIL Another attempt to find oil has begun in The Bahamas offshore, this time with a more vigorous approach than the last occasion, six years ago. In 2005, the US independent Kerr-McGee (since taken over by Anadarko) undertook a 2D seismic survey over parts of the 9,000 sq miles where it had been awarded nine exploration licences in the Grand Bahama Banks between Grand Bahama Island and the Abaco Islands. But after processing and interpreting the results, Kerr-McGee decided it was not worth proceeding to exploratory drilling and surrendered its licences.
• ENERGY SKILLS MORE SPECIALISTS, BUT NO RESULTS One hundred and thirteen locally-trained petroleum geoscientists with BSc degrees have been unleashed on the Trinidad and Tobago energy sector under the guidance of Professor Richard Dawe, who held the TTMC Chair in petroleum engineering at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad until his return to the UK in August. Since 1999, when the petroleum engineering MSc degree was “totally revamped” (in the 67-year-old professor’s words), around 70 people with this advanced qualification have become available to the industry – including Kevin Ramnarine, who went into politics and is now the minister of energy and energy affairs.
• ENERGY PROFILE LISA-ANN JOSEPH, CRISIS COMMUNICATOR Ever heard of the term “crisis communications”? Most petroleum companies in Trinidad and Tobago should have, since the energy sector is one of the most susceptible to “crises” – the BP Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 was one prominent example. Did BP handle it right?
The ENERGY Caribbean Yearbook is free to all subscribers of ENERGY Caribbean magazine. If you are not already subscribed, you can order your copy of the Yearbookfor just TT$150/US$25:
MEP congratulates ENERGY Caribbean author and co-founder, David Renwick, on his recent national award in recognition of his outstanding work in the field of energy journalism. Read more »
