At a Glance: How is Trinidad’s energy sector performing?

In its latest monetary policy report, Trinidad and Tobago’s central bank forecasts that “the domestic economy is again expected to gain impetus from developments in the energy sector.”

The projection is based on higher production due to new capacity from BP’s Angelin natural gas field which came online this year and will have “knock-on impacts” on LNG, NGLs and petrochemicals.

Read China on Trinidad gas export radar

“Shell, BP, BHP and EOG have assured of continued investment in the upstream… It is this commitment that has resulted in an increase in gas production from 3.3B3f per day in 2016 to the current rate of 3.8Bf3 per day,” energy minister Franklin Khan said recently.

He pointed to Shell’s Colibri and Barracuda projects, with first gas penciled in for 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Following a recent meeting with the Caribbean nation’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley, BP upstream chief executive Bernard Looney said: “We have been the largest investor in the country’s upstream sector – investing over US$6bn in the last five years alone – and are committed to continuing to take our business forward. In the past two years we've started up three new upstream major projects in Trinidad and recently approved the development of another two.”

The bank, however, is not that optimistic regarding crude production, which it expects will decline due to mature acreage, and adds that “the unsettled state of global energy markets adds a degree of uncertainty to anticipated foreign exchange inflows.”

Read Will Trinidad break oil production slump in the near term?

Amid this scenario, The Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago's latest energy services sector survey shows that 50% of those polled indicated that the value and volume of their business was down in the second quarter.

The majority of survey participants (58%) said there would be no change in the number of their employees while 34% expect an increase and 8% envision a drop.

The chamber also revealed that almost 70% of companies have reported that the situation regarding late payments has been getting worse over the last three years.