Curtis Williams
OGJ correspondent
PORT OF SPAIN, Nov. 8 -- Trinidad and Tobago has reached an agreement to supply LNG to Jamaica under a special pricing arrangement based on a "competitive, predictable" base price with an agreed escalation cost, said Jamaica Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. The decision followed more than a year of negotiations between the two Caribbean nations over the price Jamaica would pay for the LNG (OGJ Online, Aug. 12, 2004).
Patterson said the agreement would encourage Jamaica to establish a 1.1 million-tonne LNG receiving terminal and convert major industries from oil to natural gas usage. These will include bauxite plants, the country's electric power company, the national bus service, and several of Jamaica's larger manufacturers.
Trinidad and Tobago said plans were under way for a fifth LNG train, with a minimum capacity of 800 MMcfd, to enable the deliveries to Jamaica because LNG from the three existing LNG trains and from train four is already committed to US and Spanish markets under long-term contracts.
Government sources told OGJ the fifth train likely would include Venezuelan gas, with an interest for PDVSA.
Patterson said Jamaica is optimistic that it also can find oil and natural gas off its southern coast and in a few onshore areas. In January Jamaica will begin accepting bids for as many as 22 exploration blocks in the Walton basin, which consultants say could hold as much as 2.8 billion bbl of oil.
