May exports from Trinidad and Tobago’s Atlantic LNG rise

Trinidad and Tobago’s flagship Atlantic LNG export terminal witnessed a 43% climb in exports during May compared with April, Reuters reported on June 3 citing data from the London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) preliminary ship tracking data.

The Caribbean country shipped 0.83mn tonnes of the super-chilled fuel in May, a considerable rise from the 0.58mn tonnes it exported in April.

Much like the LNG export terminals in the US, the majority of the LNG cargoes shipped from Atlantic LNG were to buyers in Europe. The remaining cargoes were sent to purchasers in Asia and Latin America.

Trinidad’s Atlantic LNG plant has seen a major change in fortune recently, after years of insufficient investment. Co-owned by supermajors Shell and BP, Trinidad and Tobago completed a major contract restructuring for the export terminal in late 2023.

Previously, the facility had been struggling with prices matched to Henry Hub for exports to Europe, Asia, and South America. However, the restructuring yielded cargo prices ranging between 15% to 55% higher than Henry Hub prices.

Additionally, BP has also earmarked Trinidad and Tobago as one of its key priority areas for growth in upstream production. Moreover, the company had announced first gas from the Mento gas field in May and from the Cypre gas field in April.

The first gas at the Mento field off Trinidad’s southeast coast occurred at its initial discovery well. BP and its partners will now commence with drilling the remaining seven wells.

Meanwhile, the Cypre field is estimated to be capable of producing approximately 250mn cubic feet (7.1mn cubic metres) of gas per day or about 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Trinidad and Tobago is Latin America’s biggest LNG exporter and the second largest in the western hemisphere after the US. Operating at full capacity, Atlantic LNG boasts a production capacity of 12mn tonnes per year (tpy).