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Works
and Transport Minister Colm Imbert was one of the presenters
at yesterday’s Breakfast with the Prime Minister at
Crowne Plaza hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. Imbert
outlined Government’s plans for the development of
a multi-billion dollar highway network across the country.
Photo: Keith Matthews
By
Sampson Nanton
T&T is set to earn massive returns on sales of liquified
natural gas (LNG) to the US in the latter half of this year
as analysts say US LNG prices, which have already increased
by 25 per cent since March, will continue to rise.
The increase comes following a drop in supply as other LNG
producing countries divert their exports to more lucrative
and easier-to-reach European markets.
Energy experts said this country's close proximity to the
US made T&T the biggest beneficiary of the pending increase
in demand and prices.
T&T is already the biggest exporter of LNG to the US
and the prospects are looking better.
Already reeling from the high costs of oil and laws to ban
the burning of fuel in response to climate change, the US
is becoming more dependent on natural gas as an alternative
form of fuel.
Last year 60 per cent of US imports came from T&T. But
even as it presented a secure market, the US market was
not viewed the world over as a lucrative one offering LNG
prices of US$10 per million British Thermal Units (BTUs).
But LNG tankers pulling into port in Japan are fetching
prices as high as US$20 BTUs....double the US prices.
US industry experts said the US had no choice but to increase
prices in the summer....with signs already clear that suppliers
in Africa, Europe and the Far East no longer find the US
market attractive because of the price and distance to trasnport
the product.
Already the US price has increased to US$12 per BTU.
US LNG imports hit a record 770 billion cubic feet (bcf)
last year, or about 2.1 bcf per day, but strong competition
from Asia and Europe in the winter saw volumes drop off
sharply late last year and earlier this year.
So far this year, US LNG imports have averaged less than
1 bcf per day, down sharply from a 2.36 bcf per day average
for the same four months in 2007.
Houston-based consulting firm Waterborne Energy says this
is where T&T is set to benefit....as the US turns to
T&T to meet the shortfall in supply.
It noted that nuclear problems in Japan following an earthquake
that damaged a nuclear plant there last year....have also
forced that country to look to US LNG as an alternative
and that higher demands there this year....would also result
in a shortfall in supplies to the US.
It says T&T...will once again be the main supplier for
the increased demand and at higher prices.
However the Wall Street Journal has reported that not everyone
agrees that US natural gas prices are certain to rise, as
domestic producers have made significant strides in tapping
new sources of natural gas, sending US gas production up
7 per cent in January from a year earlier, to 68 billion
cubic feet per day.
The report went on, “nevertheless, more financial players
are saying low prices will not last, pointing out that even
as US production increased in 2007, prices still rose 19
per cent.
US energy secretary Samuel Bodman arrived in this country
yesterday for two days of discussions which will focus on
ensuring a steady supply of diverse energy sources....infrastructure
and security.
He will also chair an energy infrastructure assessment roundtable
meeting with Government and industry representatives...as
this country continues to establish itself as an energy
supplier to the worlds largest economy.
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