Williams: TT in demand for LNG partnerships

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO is being flooded with offers from several energy companies to partner in LNG re-gasification terminals currently being established in United States, according to Energy Minister Eric Williams. “There are quite a number of proposals out there. We are in the very happy position of having to choose among them, given the fact that we certainly don’t have access to all the LNG in the world. Because the business opportunities are so exciting from TT, we have a lot of interest and we are very carefully assessing the value that’s on offer,” he said. The minister said some of the terminals are located along the US East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

“There has even been an interest in us becoming a partner in one on the West Coast of the US,” he added. Approximately 70 percent of the LNG currently imported by the US, comes from TT. Recalling that an offer to partner in Freeport McMoran’s offshore LNG terminal in Louisiana was one of the most important ones TT has received to date, Williams said an MOU was signed with that company, studies are still ongoing and “we expect to come to a heads of agreement in the very near future.” The minister added that Algeria is also likely to partner in this terminal as well. Prime Minister Patrick Manning held discussions with former US Secretary of State Dr Henry Kissinger on TT’s reliability as an energy supplier to the US.

Kissinger, a former Freeport McMoran director, was instrumental in arranging for Manning to address key US government officials in Washington DC in September on energy matters. Asked whether these discussions were partly responsible for these companies now seeking LNG partnerships with TT, Williams said: “We continue to have discussions both here and elsewhere and various levels. Whenever the Prime Minister speaks, wherever he speaks, people listen.” The minister added that TT was “continuing to deepen discussions with the existing players in TT on them working with us to deepen our presence in the LNG value chain.”