Shifts In US Policy Could Impact T&T LNG Trade

  • A regulatory shift in New England, USA, could ripple all the way to Trinidad and Tobago, potentially impacting LNG exports, the Energy Chamber warned yesterday, as it highlighted how interconnected the global energy market has become.
  • The Energy Chamber, in a blog entitled: 'New York wind farms, pipelines and Trinidad LNG', stated that despite the USA being the world's largest LNG exporter, the world's biggest economy still imported 0.3Bn cubic meters (bcm) of LNG from Trinidad and Tobago in 2023.
  • And New England has continued to rely on imported LNG to meet demand during peak periods, the blog stated. 'This is because local environmental opposition at the state level in New York and surrounding states has prevented the construction of gas transmission pipelines to bring gas from producing areas like Pennsylvania to consumers in the northeast.
  • Cargoes flagged in certain countries cannot serve U.S. domestic LNG routes: “LNG export facilities on the U.S. Gulf Coast are also unable to ship LNG to Boston because U.S. legislation—the Jones Act—requires that only U.S.-flagged LNG carriers can move cargoes between U.S. ports. Most carriers, however, are flagged in countries such as Japan, Liberia, Panama, Bermuda, and Malaysia. As a result, Trinidad, being the next nearest source of LNG, has continued to supply the U.S., despite the shale gas revolution,” it stated.
  • However, the Energy Chamber warned this could soon change. 'Recent reports from the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg suggest that there are moves to overcome the environmental opposition to new natural gas transmission pipelines linking consumers in New England with the producers further south and west,' it stated.
  • 'Furthermore, the greenlighting of the massive Empire offshore wind project located about 15 miles south of Long Island and spanning 80,000 acres, notwithstanding President Trump's well-documented opposition to wind turbines, will supply an additional 810 MW of clean electricity to the northeast', The Energy Chamber stated. That said, exports to the U.S. account for only 3% of Trinidad’s total LNG exports, with strong demand remaining in key markets, particularly Europe and Asia.

(Source: CariCris)