NGC promises THA completed natural gas project by end of November

The chairman of the National Gas Company told top members of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Tuesday work on the $1.4 billion natural gas project at the Cove Eco-Business and Industrial Park in southwest Tobago is expected to be completed by the end of November.

Larry Howai also said the supply of gas to the $600 million electric power plant turbines will begin by the end of the year. 

Howai made the announcements after a meeting with THA a THA delegation led by Chief Secretary Orville London. 

NGC has already laid the gas line from the BHP Billiton field 25 miles off east Trinidad in the Atlantic Ocean to the Tobago site. 

Howai also told reporters NGC has not yet made a decision on the Caribbean Gas Pipeline Project to supply gas to the Eastern Caribbean.  

He said, “I don’t want to say very much on that but I can say that the project is being reviewed. It is very much alive and the NGC is a small shareholder in the company." 

He said NGC is committed to the continued development of Tobago, noting that the meeting with THA officials provided an opportunity to start preliminary discussions on how the company could partner with the THA to help develop the island's economy.

London said officials discussed with NGC the possibility of gas being piped to hotels and homes in southwest Tobago. 

He acknowledged that NGC is one of the largest contributors to the development of Tobago with an investment of $1.1 billion on the gas pipeline and more than $300 million in the gas processing plant.