ENERGY Caribbean Yearbook (2013-14)

Companies
National gas company (NGC)
NGC is set to expand
Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company (NGC)
Countries
should be finalising agreements to participate in
the local operation of three multinational energy
companies in 2013.
Its intention, as energy minister Kevin Ramnarine
has indicated, is to “acquire all or part of their assets in Trinidad
and Tobago.”
One of those acquisitions is Total’s interest in the productive
block 2c (30%) and in the Greater Ruby/Delaware Market
Development Area in block 3a (8.5%), both off the northeast
coast of Trinidad.
Total has decided to sell because what it has in Trinidad and
Tobago is small potatoes and it needs to focus investment and
management time on areas of the world where it has grander
prospects. Those include nearby French Guiana, where it holds
25% in the Guyane Maritime licence in which the Zaedyus oil
discovery was made in late 2011. By contrast, its holdings in 2c
provide it with a 30% share in only 12,479 b/d of oil and 431
mmcfd of gas (2012 average).
In NGC’s quest to go upstream, where it is currently limited
to 15% in the Repsol-operated Teak/Samaan/Poui block, even
modest access to oil and gas production is welcome. It already
buys 220 mmcfd from the BHP Billiton-operated block 2c; now
it will be regaining some of that in revenue from its ownership
position. Block 3a is an undeveloped play at the moment, but
there could be significant amounts of oil and gas available
from that source in the future.
NGC’s new president, Indar Maharaj, has not confirmed
the company’s takeover of Total’s holdings, nor the names
of the other two intended acquisitions, only conceding in
an interview with this YEARBOOK that “the discussions are at
different stages at the moment.” The company’s strategic goal,
he explains, is “to get into all aspects of the value chain – once
the risk is acceptable, since I have to be very, very careful with
risk. But if I want to go upstream and I see an entity that is
already in operation and doing well, then I’m minimising my
risk while getting an opportunity.”
In 2012, NGC struck out boldly in another value-adding area
– marketing the three cargos of LNG produced from the 30
mmcfd of gas it buys for export from EOG Resources Trinidad.
Previously, these were sold internationally on its behalf by BP,
but even before the new president came on board, NGC had
been moving to insert itself into the LNG trading business.
Its first cargo, of about 118,000 cubic metres, was sold to the
international trading company Gunvor at US$9.25 per mmbtu,
minister Ramnarine has revealed. This was considerably more
than the US$1.60 per mmbtu that NGC earned when BP Gas
Marketing was doing the job.
Subsequently, two other cargos were bought by Brazil’s
Petrobras and Trafigura, at steadily increasing prices.
According to Anand Ragbir, NGC’s vice president, commercial:
“We earned about six times more for our second cargo than we
used to get from BP, and about eight times more for the third.”
Clearly, the company has been a quick learner and appears to
have mastered the intricacies of global LNG marketing.
On the home from, NGC will be helping to make compressed
natural gas (CNG) a more attractive fuel for motorists in 2013.
“The establishment of a new company to promote the concept
is one of the options being considered,” Maharaj confirms. It
will probably be partnered by its fellow state firms, Petrotrin
and National Petroleum (NP).
Such a company would have to deal with all aspects of
the CNG initiative – service stations, vehicle conversions, and
pipelines to take gas to the pumps. But Maharaj asserts: “We’ve
got to break this cycle of indecision over CNG.”
Anand Ragbir (courtesy NGC)
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