By an OGJ correspondent
PORT OF SPAIN, Apr. 25 -- Atlantic LNG Co. of Trinidad and Tobago has announced that its third LNG train will come on stream during the first week of May, nearly 2 months ahead of schedule. The Atlantic LNG plant has been built at Point Fortin in the southwestern coast of the Caribbean island of Trinidad.
Atlantic LNG Chairman John Andrews told OGJ Online that the first shipment of LNG from Train 3 will leave Point Fortin by mid-May. Andrews said Atlantic LNG brought its schedule forward to meet the strong worldwide LNG demand.
"The market for LNG is growing at a fairly rapid rate and there is room in the international market to absorb all the LNG Atlantic LNG could produce." Andrews said. "In addition the buyers are anxious to purchase more LNG while we are willing to sell more to them."
Andrews added that all three trains for the Atlantic LNG project have been completed ahead of schedule.
Train 3 specs
Train 3 will have a capacity of 3.3 million tonnes/year of LNG and will process 500 MMcfd of gas. When combined with the first two trains of the Atlantic LNG project, LNG production totals 9.6 million tonnes/year, making it the fifth largest LNG facility in the world, according to Atlantic LNG. Atlantic LNG is already the largest exporter of LNG into the US. Most of the LNG from Train 3, however, will be transported to Spain.
Atlantic LNG's two-train expansion was based on the provision that 75% of its production would be sold to power markets in Spain.
Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago is still locked in negotiations with Atlantic LNG shareholders—BP PLC unit Amoco Trinidad (LNG) BV, British Gas Trinidad LNG Ltd., Tractabel Trinidad LNG Ltd., NGC Trinidad & Tobago LNG Ltd., and Repsol-YPF SA unit Repsol LNG Port Spain BV—over the proposed construction of a fourth LNG train.
Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning said significant progress has been made in the negotiations for the fourth train. He added that it was likely the deal to expand the project by 5.2 million tonnes/year could be signed within the next month.
