Trinidad and Tobago, a Powerful Energy and Gas Industry

February 22, 2024 Hour: 3:04 am

Trinidad and Tobago’s economy is based on the energy industry. The Caribbean country has a tradition as one of the oldest hydrocarbon producers in the region, with more than a century of experience as an oil economy.

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Back in the nineties of the last century, the Caribbean country began a dizzying development of the gas and petrochemical industry, which eventually positioned this sector as the key to the nation’s future development. Between 1993 and 2008, the governments of Trinidad and Tobago undertook policies favorable to foreign investment in the gas and petrochemical sector, allowing them to reap significant economic benefits.

Growth was rapid, reaching one of the largest natural gas processing complexes in the Western Hemisphere, with a production capacity of 70,000 bl/day of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The country thus became one of the world’s leading producers of Ammonia and Methanol.

This industrial development has led Trinidad and Tobago to rank among the countries with the best World Development Indicators (WDI). According to the World Bank, it is classified as a high-income economy, with a GDP per capita 57.7% higher than the regional average for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Current Period

Although between the years 2018-2021 the gas industry had a slight stagnation in production, due to operational stress in shallow water wells; later came a process of updating technologies. Thanks to commercial alliances with foreign investors, the country’s industry was equipped with advanced technologies for the exploitation of new fields found in deeper waters.

With such rigorously designed and planned projects, as explained by the country’s government authorities, Trinidad and Tobago is expected to contribute about 25%, or 820 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of America’s natural gas production by 2025.

The islands’ authorities have also embarked on diversifying the economy to become less dependent on the gas industry and avoid a slowdown in the economy. The non-energy sector will therefore be driven by increased business activity and the continued resurgence of consumer demand, as well as strong investments in the health and education sectors and an opening up of the leisure industry.

The aim is for food inflation to continue to decline, driven by the deceleration of local product values. The Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago reported that the unemployment rate in the country was 4.9 percent in the first quarter of 2023; slightly below the 5.1 percent recorded a year earlier in the same period.

Undoubtedly, these are tangible signs of a recovery that both local authorities and major world economic institutions believe will keep the small Caribbean country among the most advantaged in the energy and gas production and commercialization sector.

Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelago geographically located in the Caribbean Sea, specifically in the group of islands called Lesser Antilles. It is located near the mainland of South America, with Venezuela as a neighboring country in the continent. They form a group of islands and cays, but the two that give name to the country stand out: the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, the first is the largest and most economically and socially important and where the capital is located; named Port of Spain. They have a total population of more than one million, 300 thousand inhabitants, whose official language is English.