CONTACT Magazine (Vol.18 No.1 – April 2018)

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transforming t&T 2016 2017 Renewable Energy 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 2013 2014 2015 2016 Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy (C-SERMS) RE goal: 20% by 2017 28% by 2022 47% by 2027 “Renewable sources of energy are the way forward” – Robert Le Hunte, Public Utilities Minister, January 2018 T&T RE goal: 2017 10% by 2021 Return on investment While minister Khan is happy about all this, he is not so pleased about the amount of revenue the government gains from this output. The government, he says, is therefore “reviewing the taxation system and the suite of allowances available to oil and gas companies.” This process began with the royalty rate on production, which was raised to 12.5% in January. Other tax changes will be announced in due course. The minister has reassured the industry that “the government is receptive to, and welcomes, foreign investment” – but with the caveat that “there must be an equitable sharing of revenue earned from the exploitation of our hydrocarbon resources.” The UK’s Poten and Partners, in its Gas Master Plan report, highlighted the “great disparity in value”, as minister Khan put it, “between that which the government received, as compared to that received by energy companies and their affiliates from the monetisation of the country’s hydrocarbon resources.” He gave as a sterling example the revenue impact of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains in Point Fortin. The “potential value loss from the four LNG “There must be an equitable sharing of revenue earned from the exploitation of our hydrocarbon resources” trains averaged around US$6 billion a year between 2011 and 2014, which is a staggering figure,” he explained. Poten and Partners found that “the beneficiary of the substantial value generated by the trains was not so much the upstream gas suppliers but rather the offshore jurisdictions, which were either low-priced markets or high-priced markets, but with the revenue not flowing back to Trinidad and Tobago.” In the majority of transactions, it was found that “the offtake arrangements for upstream companies involved sales to downstream marketing affiliates, which potentially led to nonarm’s length transactions.” Renewable energy As far as renewable energy (RE) is concerned, Trinidad and Tobago has been a late convert. Minister Khan acknowledges this. “Trinidad and Tobago recognises the benefits that would accrue from the diversification of its energy mix” – but he points out that it is “the only country in the western hemisphere that generates 100% of its power from natural gas, the cleanest of the fossil fuels.” A target of 10% of RE in power generation by 2021 has been set. According to the minister, a “suitably qualified international firm, together with a joint venture local partner, will be required to design, build, operate, maintain and fund RE projects greater than, or equal to, 3MW for grid integration.” RE comes basically from the sun and the wind, but there is also the more esoteric waste-to-energy approach. Once there is a landfill, waste-to-energy becomes a possibility. The minister confirms that “expressions of interest have been issued for the development of a waste-to-energy facility at the Beetham Landfill for the conversion of municipal waste for power generation.” Trinidad and Tobago is a signatory to the Paris climate change agreement, 36 Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine
which mandates it to “reduce cumulative greenhouse gas emissions from power generation, transportation and industry by 15% by 2030, relative to a business-as-usual baseline.” CNG “As part of our strategy of reducing greenhouse gases, the government is aggressively promoting the increased utilisation of CNG as a major transportation fuel,” minister Khan states. “Based on this commitment,” he adds, “the grant of fiscal incentives benefiting a cross-section of participants, ranging from individuals to installers, and a competitive price compared with liquid fuels, have encouraged an upsurge of interest in the adoption of CNG as a transportation fuel of choice.” Petrotrin has been told “to accelerate its enhanced oil recovery programme, especially the CO 2 injection part of it.” The minister believes this initiative will have a “two-fold effect – boosting oil production and reducing our carbon footprint.” Other upstream companies are falling in line. “Over the coming years, upstream companies have committed to capital investment in excess of US$10 billion, which will serve to maintain the momentum in the industry.” Minister Khan admits, however, that “there is still a lot of work to do. We are in the process of finalising negotiations with our Venezuelan counterparts for a tranche of gas from their Dragon field and for the sharing of production from our crossborder fields, Loran-Manatee, Manikin- Coquina and Kapok-Dorado.” The culmination of these developments, he says, “will bring a new and added dimension to the gas business in Trinidad and Tobago, particularly when combined with our proposed Caribbean energy diplomacy interventions.” Average daily production of crude (bpd) and natural gas (bn cf) Energy minister Franklin Khan 2016 71,846 3.3 2017 71,700 3.8 Energy revenue (TT$bn) as a percentage of total government revenue $20.9 2014 $12.9 2015 $3.0 2016 $3.7 2017 Source: Energy minister Franklin Khan at 2017 Energy Conference Trinidad express newspaper www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine 37 Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce
Page 1: Vol.18 No.1 - April 2018 The Voice
Page 4 and 5: Vol.18 No.1 - April 2018 Contents O
Page 6 and 7: the chamber in action The President
Page 8 and 9: the chamber in action Be a part of
Page 10 and 11: the chamber in action Business Insi
Page 12 and 13: INNOVATORS Lange Trinidad to supply
Page 14 and 15: INNOVATORS batteries with Calcium S
Page 16 and 17: INNOVATORS Hadco invests $35 millio
Page 18 and 19: INNOVATORS hlphoto/shutterstock.com
Page 20 and 21: transforming t&T It starts right he
Page 22 and 23: transforming t&T 211 240 The idea t
Page 24 and 25: transforming t&T Making things new
Page 26 and 27: transforming t&T Left Cocobel Choco
Page 28 and 29: transforming t&T Janet Bloom Fabres
Page 30 and 31: transforming t&T Why is it taking s
Page 32 and 33: transforming t&T Do we really like
Page 34 and 35: transforming t&T Desperate for chan
Page 36 and 37: transforming t&T To what extent the
Page 40 and 41: transforming the state of the t&T n
Page 42 and 43: the state of the nation statistics
Page 44 and 45: the state of the nation statistics
Page 46 and 47: the chamber and its members mediati
Page 48 and 49: the chamber and its members The loc
Page 50 and 51: the chamber and its members Ramkara

CONTACT Magazine (Vol.18 No.1 – April 2018)

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