Construction of the Mitsubishi-led project at Union Estate, which begins mid-2014, will initially create 3,000 construction jobs, according to Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine yesterday."Our best days in the energy sector lie ahead of us," Ramnarine added in a statement to the Senate after Government signed the agreement on Monday.
The Government signed a project development agreement with Mitsubishi, Neal and Massy and Caribbean Gas Chemical Ltd (CGCL) for the TT$5.4 billion project at the Union Industrial Estate for a methanol to di-methyl ether (DME) project. CGCL is a joint venture company formed for Phase One of the project.The project will produce one million metric tonnes per year of methanol and 100,000 tonnes per year of di-methyl ether.
He said the project presents several unique opportunities for T&T for diversification of the energy sector, economic growth, development of the south-western peninsula, regional energy security and local content.Among direct benefits, he said the initial project proposed to expend foreign direct investment of US$850 million or TT$5.4 billion."During construction phase, the project will create about 3,000 construction jobs and eventually lead to the creation of 180 permanent jobs when Phase One is completed," Ramnarine added.
"It will also serve as a catalyst for resurgence of industrial development in the south-western peninsula and will be the anchor for the development of the Union industrial estate into T&T's next heavy industrial estate...Union Estate will become the new Point Lisas of T&T."Ramnarine said the project development agreement is legally binding, signalling the project is at an advanced stage.
"Mitsubishi has already established a T&T office and will be seeking in the next year to obtain the various regulatory approvals that are needed to commence construction. It is expected construction will commence by mid-2014," he added.Ramnarine said DME had been described as having "knockout commercial potential," and had applications in transport as a replacement for diesel and in power generation.He said DME was significantly more environmentally friendly than diesel.
"Vehicles running on DME have been introduced in China, Japan and Sweden," Ramnarine said.During Phase two of the project, he added, the Mitsubishi consortium would consider the production of mono ethylene glycol (meg) from syngas and/or ethane extraction. He said MEG could be used to develop additional downstream manufacturing operations.
The project requires 100 million standard cubic feet of natural gas daily. The Government has started talks with one established natural gas supplier in T&T which has indicated it could supply this natural gas by 2016, he added.In addition to this project, the National Energy Corporation and National Gas Company are in different stages of negotiations for two other projects that are also candidates for Union Industrial Estate, Ramnarine said.
Ramnarine said the NEC would have to upgrade port capacity in the south-western peninsula and infrastructure to cater for the needs of the new industrial estate at Union, near to which is the Point Fortin Highway construction project.He said changes to the energy sector's fiscal regime have also begun to show results."Rig activity on land is the highest it has been since the early to mid-1980s...The same thing is happening in the marine environment," Ramnarine said.