Trinidad inks gas deal with Venezuela to continue LNG exports

HOUSTON (Bloomberg) -- Trinidad and Tobago will continue to ship super-chilled natural gas all over the world, with a little help from Venezuela.

President Nicolas Maduro and Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley signed a deal Saturday where Trinidad will purchase gas from Venezuela’s prolific Dragon Field, state-run energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, said in a tweet. Under the terms of the agreement 150 MMcf of gas will be supplied every day.

The deal has long been in the making and will throw a lifeline to Trinidad, which has seen its gas output decline in recent years. It’s also good news for Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc, each of which have a stake in the state-owned Atlantic LNG.

Shell has had a presence in Trinidad and Tobago since 1913, which expanded after it bought BG Group in 2016. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant is the largest trader of liquefied natural gas worldwide, and along with BP, owns stakes in each of the trains of the Atlantic LNG facility. Trinidad is the world’s seventh-largest exporter of LNG, according to the BP Statistical Review.

One of BP’s seven major project start-ups last year was in Trinidad and it’s the country’s largest hydrocarbon producer. Last year the British oil major made two large discoveries offshore, which could unlock an extra 2 Tcf of gas, roughly the annual consumption of Egypt, according to BP.