By: Kimberly Ramkhalawan
June 3, 2022
The Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago got their long-awaited annual Energy Conference kicked off this week at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain, with much talk continuing in the way oil and gas producing companies can refocus their production to cleaner and more renewable means.
Representing the big players in the industry, Claire Fitzpatrick, bpTT’s President spoke how her company has been ensuring the infrastructure is in place to support the gas industry they are expecting, as they signed an agreement last October for the resumption of exploration and drilling.
Fitzpatrick noted that “gas was a huge part of the energy transition and Trinidad and Tobago was blessed with being a gas resource location in border and cross borders in helping the world transition”.
Bryan Ramsumair, Managing Director at local gas company DeNovo says the green agenda takes several forms, citing the latest Zandolie project which came on stream in February this year, says its platform utilizes both solar and wind while remaining unmanned, built totally local not requiring any workpermits.
He says green energy should be seen only from the upstream sector’s perspective but through its value chain. A gas molecule that goes into a Proman methanol plant and soon to be new generation methanol tankers meaning it will be eliminating bunker fuel. Ramsumair says green is now and is already here.
As for state own company, NGC, President Mark Loquan for the company to ‘decarbonize and meet the global agenda, its approach involves taking it by stages. This includes promoting energy efficiency, how it uses power, gas supply and its contracts being renewed for the immediate period, while looking at carbon capture and looking at hydrogen for the future’. Loquan says a realization must be had on the role methane has on the climate, with it accounting for over 30 percent of global emissions.
Following the launch of this year’s event, Loquan along with NewGen Energy Limited signed a non-binding letter of intent, LOI, to collaborate and develop it hydrogen production facility. Subject to the commercial feasibility of this low-carbon project by all related stakeholders across the value chain, the parties will seek to enter into a non-binding Heads of Agreement as well as Definitive agreements once acceptable terms can be reached between the parties. Commenting on the LOI, NGC’s President Mark Loquan stated that, “This LOI represents the next step between NGC and NewGen on deepening our collaboration towards the advancement on the first industrial scale low carbon hydrogen project in Point Lisas and the Caribbean. Once commercially feasible, the NewGen Project could potentially become a pivotal step towards medium to longer term decarbonisation of the petrochemical sector for Trinidad and Tobago, which is something that the NGC is committed to and working towards.”
This year’s conference has been themed “Leveraging the industry’s strengths for the energy transition”.