00:00On day one of the return of the House of Representatives from the Parliament's recess,
00:05Opposition MP Stuart Young sought answers from Energy Minister Dr Rudal Munilal
00:09about the announcements by two Canada-based downstream companies
00:13earlier this year and later last year regarding the operations at the Point Lisas industrial estate.
00:19The gas that is no longer being taken by Methanex as it's shut down,
00:25as well as Nutrien as its four plants are shut down as well,
00:28where is that gas going to?
00:33Minister?
00:35Madam Deputy Speaker, the Member would be aware that the NGC would work with all players in the sector,
00:40including the other manufacturers, including Atlantic LNG,
00:45and the gas will be utilised, has been utilised.
00:49Again, if the Minister want to put a specific question per petrochemical sector,
00:54per light industrial sector, per power generation, etc.,
00:57feel free to do that in writing so we can give an accurate response at the appropriate time.
01:02Dr Munilal had first responded to MP Young's original question about the NGC,
01:07the state-owned national gas company of Trinidad and Tobago.
01:10NGC has not changed its allocation of gas to petrochemical customers at the Point Lisas industrial estate
01:17and is not aware of any diversion of gas from those customers to the Atlantic LNG facility.
01:24And the energy minister appeared to dismiss the opposition's recent claim
01:28that the UNC-led government is taking credit for work regarding the supply of natural gas,
01:33which had been done by the former PNM administration before last year's general election.
01:39As the sole aggregator of natural gas for the domestic market,
01:43NGC has fully met its contractual gas supply obligations to all domestic customers,
01:51including petrochemical, non-petrochemical, light industrial, commercial, and power generation customers.
01:58They have met those obligations from 2025 to date 2026.
02:04During the same period, NGC has continued to satisfy its entitlement obligations to the Atlantic facility.
02:12The Atlantic LNG facility is located in Point Fortin
02:15and produces a key downstream gas export, liquefied natural gas.
02:20It is also important to note that since January 2026,
02:25there have been 20 separate downstream plant upsets or plant disruptions, equipment failure, etc.
02:33There have been 20 separate downstream plant upsets at the Point Lisas industrial estate.
02:39These events resulted in affected plants either being shut down or operating below their contractual gas entitlements
02:46for reasons unrelated to gas availability.
02:50Dr. Mundilal told the lower house that NGC has also dealt with another challenge.
02:55NGC experienced two gas supply related constraints during 2026,
03:01only one of which resulted in curtailments to petrochemical customers.
03:06Despite these constraints, NGC delivered gas at the contracted DCQ levels
03:13in accordance with the gas supply contracts on approximately 95% of days during the year.
03:21The Energy Minister said the NGC renewed gas supply contracts with its downstream customers
03:26and added that the daily gas quantities were maintained at levels consistent with those in the previous contracts
03:33and in several instances were increased above daily contracted volumes.
03:38Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
Comments