T&T Plans To Develop Manatee Gas Field

  • Shell Trinidad and Tobago Ltd announced yesterday that it had taken a Final Investment Decision (FID) to develop the Manatee gas field, projected to produce a peak of 604 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day.
  • Shell stated that this development is part of its overall plan to expand its liquefied natural gas (LNG) business, as it believes that LNG will play a critical role in the global energy transition, with overall demand estimated to rise by more than 50% by 2040.
  • The Manatee gas field is located in the East Coast Marine Area (ECMA) in Trinidad and Tobago and is part of the cross-border Loran-Manatee discovery, shared by this country and Venezuela. The field is believed to hold around 10 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, with 7.3 tcf on Venezuela's side and the remaining 2.7 tcf on T&T's side.
  • Energy Minister, Stuart Young expressed personal gratitude for the opportunity to negotiate the agreement with Venezuela to delink Manatee from Loran, allowing Trinidad and Tobago to develop the Manatee field independently. This was achieved in 2019. He added that the energy ministry subsequently negotiated and executed a production-sharing contract with Shell for the development of the Manatee field in November 2021.
  • Manatee is slated to start production in 2027. Once online, Manatee is expected to reach peak production of approximately 104,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) (604 MMscf/d).
  • The Energy Chamber of Trinidad & Tobago said it welcomed the news of Shell's FID for the development of the Manatee field. 'This is a very significant development for Trinidad and Tobago and will help create stability for the country's gas industry and by extension, our energy services companies.’
  • ‘This is a major development, projected to deliver significant volumes of natural gas, equivalent to around 20% of current national gas production. This project has had a long and complicated history, not least because it is part of a field that straddles the maritime boundary with Venezuela. Delivering this project involved significant complex negotiations by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, Shell, the Government of Venezuela and numerous other stakeholders,' the Energy Chamber stated.

(Source: Trinidad Express Newspaper)