T&T dwindling gas reserves: Young urges Kamla to continue talks with Guyana

Former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Stuart Young has encouraged his successor, Kamla Persad-Bissessar to continue talks with Guyana and Suriname as the country pursues remedies to its dwindling gas reserves.

Stuart, who also held the post of energy minister, has warned that the task will not be an easy one as there are numerous hurdles to be addressed including the commercial viability for the identified states to send the commodity to Trinidad and Tobago as well as the crucial fact that any pipeline to the twin island from the South American nations must pass through Venezuelan waters.

During a press conference earlier this week, Young noted that even if there are significant gas reserves in Suriname and Guyana, it is still dependent on the feasibility concept, something he said that the last government had started working on to build pipelines from the two countries to Trinidad and Tobago.

“But there are a number of factors that have to take place before it could become a reality…you have to shore up the proven reserves, and that’s done through exploration and production. The Governments of Guyana and Suriname then have to be persuaded that commercially it makes sense to bring that gas. You then have to factor that into the cost of a pipeline from Guyana and Suriname to Trinidad and Tobago. And here is where the rubber meets the road because any pipeline from Guyana or Suriname coming to Trinidad and Tobago has to pass through Venezuela’s waters — that is the reality… so Venezuela remains in the equation after all that needs to be done.”

In Guyana’s case, Young said that it is still unsure, the amount of gas that exists in the country, while the task also remains to convince the Guyanese government that selling the commodity to Trinidad and Tobago is a lucrative investment should there be adequate amounts.

“It is still undetermined what are the reserves that may be possible, what exists in Guyana… I hope that as we go forward in the future, conversations may be pursued. The main operator there is Exxon, Exxon play a very key and critical role…I made several visits to the Exxon headquarters in order to try and persuade them, along with the Government of Guyana, for us to look at commercialising if they had sufficient amounts of gas…in Trinidad and Tobago because of the existing infrastructure here.”

While Young insisted that the Guyanese gas is a commodity that could be pursued, he noted that access could be several years into the future.

Guyana is currently in the process of monetising its proven gas reserves. The government and oil and gas partner, ExxonMobil, has already identified a private company to conduct this work. The country’s proven oil reserves are estimated at 17 TCF, about a quarter of the total 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels discovered by ExxonMobil in the Stabroek block.