Natural gas curtailments at Point Lisas are the result of "a pause in investments" years earlier and not primarily maintenance, bpTT said in a statement on the issue."The lower production that has resulted in the gas curtailments recently experienced by both Pt Lisas and Atlantic (LNG) is primarily a result of a pause in new investment in recent years by upstream producers, including bpTT, due to the culmination of many factors which created an unfavorable investment climate," the company said.
Drafted in response to e-mailed questions to the country's single largest gas producer, bpTT said: "Factors such as the global economic crisis, an unfavourable fiscal environment and the expectation by state enterprises that the industry would have an oversupply of gas due to the cancellation of downstream projects, created a lot of uncertainty which invariably affected investment decisions."
Refuting statements made on the issue, bpTT said: "Maintenance activity, necessary to ensure continued safe and reliable operations, has contributed to the current gas curtailments, however it is not the primary factor."The company said measures have been taken "to improve the attractiveness of investment in the sector–such as improved fiscal terms and more frequent bid rounds–and there is clear evidence that investment is returning. It will however take time to re-build upstream capacity."
The company said the challenge ahead is "to manage a short term period of supply shortfalls while ensuring the investment climate continues to incentivise the search for and development of more oil and gas. The issue is not whether there is enough gas, but rather whether T&T has a robust energy policy or road map that focuses on the right structural and commercial terms to ensure it attracts the level of investment necessary to bring those resources into production."
bpTT said where gas shortfalls occur, decisions will be required on "how best to allocate the available gas to maximise the revenues for the country."
"We feel it is in the best interests of both the sector and the country that we move forward with urgency to set out an energy policy or road map for the next decade and beyond to ensure that these structural and commercial issues are addressed. We remain committed to working with the government and other companies in both the upstream and downstream industry to mitigate the impact of the current gas shortfalls as well as to focus our efforts on ensuring we have a successful industry for decades to come."
bpTT operates in 904,000 acres off Trinidad's east coast, and has 13 offshore platforms and two onshore processing facilities. The company's gas production in 2013 averaged 2,239 millions standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMSCF/D), more than double the second highest producer, Britain's BG Group, which averaged 932 MMSCF/D.