We have gas: Energy Minister Ramnarine

Trinidad & Tobago's energy minister Kevin Ramnarine told a business luncheon on Wednesday the country's natural gas reserves will last more than nine years. And he told industry stakeholders to get ready for another round of deep water bidding.

Ramnarine was speaking at a luncheon arranged by BG Energy at the Hilton Hotel on Wednesday.

He was responding to the latest Ryder Scott audit, which said Trinidad & Tobago has 27 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and an exploration resource base of 26 trillion cubic feet.

The minister said that's 53 trillion cubic feet so there's clear evidence that there is no imminent shortage of natural gas.

"There is no need therefore to head for the hills. We do not have 9 years of gas left. We in fact looked at the entire resource base when we contemplate our planning," Ramnarine said.

Despite that, he said there is a serious gas supply problem at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate.

"This has arisen due to maintenance work being conducted by our upstream suppliers. This problem has impacted negatively on the national economy and it is currently engaging my fullest attention," the minister said.

Ramnarine said the solution to the problem is to increase the rate of exploration activity and work with the current industry players, BG, bp, EOG and BHP Billiton.

He said the Ministry will launch another deep water bidding round in November to be followed by a shallow average bid round in 2012.

"The Ministry estimates that Block 23-a and TTDA-14 which were awarded to bp could potentially lead to the discovery of new reserves estimated to have an unrisked natural gas reserve potential in the range of 4.7 to 8.2 cubic trillion feet of natural gas," Ramnarine pointed out.