In its latest report presented in Port of Spain Wednesday officials of the US-based oil and gas audit company noted that the country's gas reserves have continued to fall over the past few years.
It highlighted one problem as the difficulty in finding new gas to replace the gas that is being used for energy.
Ryder Scott senior petroleum engineer Larry McHalffey said gas reserves reached a new and "critical" low in the past 12 months.
This latest report has indicated that at the end of last year, unrisked proven gas reserves dropped from 14,416 to 13,460 billion cubic feet (BCF) while probable finds dwindled from 7,837 in 2009 to 7,642 last year.
The exploration capacity also dropped from 25,990 to 25,978 BCF.
McHalffey pointed to another critical issue that could affect Trinidad and Tobago's energy earning capability - the drop in the global demand for fuel. He said that remains a factor even with more aggressive exploration and production (E&P) to increase the diminishing reserves.
"In order to bring the exploration resources into the production category requires expenditure of current capital," McHalffey said.
The exploration capacity also dropped from 25,990 to 25,978 BCF.
McHalffey pointed to another critical issue that could affect Trinidad and Tobago's energy earning capability - the drop in the global demand for fuel. He said that remains a factor even with more aggressive exploration and production (E&P) to increase the diminishing reserves.
"In order to bring the exploration resources into the production category requires expenditure of current capital," McHalffey said.
He added, "Operators don't have a market for the current gas that they have so they are market constrained and they don't want to over develop for something that they wouldn't need for another two or three years."
McHalffney said the optimum situation is for 100 per cent replacement of gas into the reserves. He noted that in 2010 the replacement figure dropped to a low 35 per cent.
Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine's assessment of the situation was not as bleak as the foreign energy expert. The minister stated that gas "is not running out".
Ramnarine explained that low figure was a direct result of the reduction in E&P in 2010. He said he is encouraged that the dip in reserves will be temporary since the recent award of two blocks to BP has the potential for the discovery of new reserves.
The minister pointed out that estimates for those two blocks were estimated show "unrisked natural gas resources" between 4.7 - 8.2 trillion cubic feet (TCF) based on the Ministry's conservative estimates.
He noted a critical problem. "At the present time, even if there is a major gas discovery in this country there simply is no or little market for that gas" since there is no additional demand for natural gas.
"Put quite simply we cannot expect that companies would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to explore, appraise and develop reserves and have no market for that natural gas," he said.
"We need to take our energy skills and expertise outside of the country. In that regard, we are very advanced in discussions with Ghana and there is the possibility of an NGC (National Gas Company) investment in Ghana very soon.
The minister pointed out that estimates for those two blocks were estimated show "unrisked natural gas resources" between 4.7 - 8.2 trillion cubic feet (TCF) based on the Ministry's conservative estimates.
He noted a critical problem. "At the present time, even if there is a major gas discovery in this country there simply is no or little market for that gas" since there is no additional demand for natural gas.
"Put quite simply we cannot expect that companies would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to explore, appraise and develop reserves and have no market for that natural gas," he said.
"We need to take our energy skills and expertise outside of the country. In that regard, we are very advanced in discussions with Ghana and there is the possibility of an NGC (National Gas Company) investment in Ghana very soon.
"We also have a possible investment and discussions with Government of Tanzania, so we focusing a lot on getting the NGC out of Trinidad an Tobago," Ramnarine said.
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