Atlantic LNG Terminal

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Atlantic LNG Terminal is an LNG export terminal in Trinidad and Tobago.

Location

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Project Details

Project Details, Train 1

• Operator: Atlantic LNG
• Owner: Shell (51%), BP (39%), NGC Trinidad and Tobago (10%)
• Parent company: Shell (51%), BP (39%), NGC Trinidad and Tobago (10%)
• Location: Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago
• Coordinates: 10.18106, -61.69189 (exact)
• Type: Export
• Capacity: 3.0 to 3.3 mtpa
• Status: Mothballed
• Start year: 1999

Project Details, Train 2

• Operator: Atlantic LNG
• Owner: Shell (57.5%), BP (42.5%)
• Parent company: Shell (57.5%), BP (42.5%)
• Location: Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago
• Coordinates: 10.18106, -61.69189 (exact)
• Type: Export
• Capacity: 3.3 to 3.4 mtpa
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2002

Project Details, Train 3

• Operator: Atlantic LNG
• Owner: Shell (57.5%), BP (42.5%)
• Parent company: Shell (57.5%), BP (42.5%)
• Location: Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago
• Coordinates: 10.18106, -61.69189 (exact)
• Type: Export
• Capacity: 3.3 to 3.4 mtpa
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2003

Project Details, Train 4

• Operator: Atlantic LNG
• Owner: Shell (51.1%), BP (37.8%), NGC Trinidad and Tobago (11.1%)
• Parent company: Shell (51.1%), BP (37.8%), NGC Trinidad and Tobago (11.1%)
• Location: Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago
• Coordinates: 10.18106, -61.69189 (exact)
• Type: Export
• Capacity: 5.2 mtpa
• Cost: 1.2 billion USD
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2007

Project Details, Train 5

• Owner: BP (37.8%), NGC Trinidad and Tobago (11.1%)
• Parent company: BP (37.8%), BG Group (28.9%), Repsol (22.2%), NGC Trinidad and Tobago (11.1%)
• Location: Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago
• Coordinates: 10.18106, -61.69189 (exact)
• Type: Export
• Capacity:
• Status: Cancelled
• Start year:

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day

Background

Atlantic LNG Terminal is a four-train LNG export terminal in Trinidad and Tobago.

The export-oriented LNG terminal was constructed in 1996 and became operational in 1999 with its first LNG cargo to Boston. Since then, the LNG terminal has expanded substantially and now contains four LNG trains. The second train and third train became operational in 2002 and 2003, respectively. The fourth train was completed in 2005 and was meant to strengthen Trinidad and Tobago's position as the largest exporter to the United States at the time. The entire terminal currently possesses a total production capacity of 15 mtpa.

The terminal was constructed by Bechtel and cost an estimated $3.3 billion among all four trains. Mechademy lists the costs for trains 1-3 as 2.2 billion USD and train 4 as 1.2 billion USD.

In 2007, a feasibility study was conducted for a fifth train, but there have been no developments since then and the proposal is presumed to be cancelled.

Ownership Structure

The ownership and shareholder structure of the terminal is complex and has changed many times since the project began. The ownership varies across the LNG trains of the terminal. Until 2013, Repsol was a major stakeholder until it sold all of its LNG assets to Shell.

As of January 2022, the government of Trinidad and Tobago was working with the shareholders of Atlantic LNG to restructure ownership to allow more efficient management of the project.

As of June 2022, the main shareholders were Shell and BP (British Petroleum), with NGC (National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago) and CIC (Chinese Investment Corporation) also holding minority shares in some of the terminals.

In December 2022, Shell, BP and NGC signed a preliminary agreement to restructure ownership of the Atlantic LNG terminal. The proposed restructuring was designed to simplify and standardize ownership percentages across all four trains of the terminal, with NGC acquiring a share of Trains 2 and 3 from Shell and BP to complement its existing stakes in Trains 1 and 4. Chinese Investment Corporation, whose ownership was limited to a 10% share of the mothballed Train 1, did not participate in the talks and was not a party to the preliminary agreement.

In June 2023 Reuters reported that the planned restructuring was moving forward, with a definitive agreement expected by the fourth quarter of 2023. Under the proposed new arrangement, NGC would hold a 10% stake in each of the four trains, with Shell and BP each retaining a 45% stake. According to Reuters' sources, CIC's 10% ownership stake in Train 1 would be eliminated.

As of July 2023, Atlantic LNG's website showed that CIC no longer held an ownership stake in Train 1. The previous ownership breakdown for Train 1 - Shell (46%), BP (34%), NGC Trinidad and Tobago (10%), Chinese Investment Corporation (10%) - had been replaced with the following new ownership percentages: Shell (51%), BP (39%), NGC Trinidad and Tobago (10%).

Gas Production

While Trinidad and Tobago was the world's seventh largest exporter of LNG in the world and largest LNG exporter to the US in 2015, the country's production and market for gas has struggled recently. Production has declined over the past few years due to lack of upstream investment and a lack of recent infrastructure development, despite efforts by BP and BG to rejuvenate Trinidad and Tobago's gas industry with upstream investments and projects. Additionally, the shale gas revolution in the United States has exacerbated Trinidad and Tobago's struggling gas industry.

In 2016, Atlantic experienced a 30% gas supply shortage, and 2017 was predicted to be even worse, with up to a 35% gas shortage. The significant problem with this situation, besides the massive fall in LNG export cargoes, is that it creates a safety issue with the terminal. Turbines and compressors are turned on and off, or are put out of rhythm, which is not how they were designed to function, posing unknown issues and problems according to Atlantic's CEO, Nigel Darlow.

Suspension of operations at Train 1

In December 2020, Train 1 of the Atlantic LNG Terminal (the oldest of the terminal's four operating trains) was mothballed due to insufficient gas supply. Train 1 remained offline as of July 2022 and was not expected to resume operations until 2023 at the earliest. As of February 2023, Atlantic LNG was reportedly laying off staff, as the terminal was only able to source enough gas to operate Trains 2, 3 and 4 at 70% of capacity.

Possible resumption of operations at Train 1

News reports in 2023 indicated that Train 1 could resume operations by the first quarter of 2027, contingent on the availability of new fossil gas supplies from the Manatee and Dragon fields in the offshore waters between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. Sources noted that the proposed restructuring of the Atlantic LNG Terminal's ownership (due to take effect in late 2023) could also help support a relaunch of Terminal 1 by eliminating BP and Shell's status as the terminal's only two gas suppliers, thereby opening the door to gas purchases from other companies such as Woodside Energy and EOG Resources.

Proposed hub for small-scale LNG exports to other Caribbean nations

In October 2022, Trinidad's National Gas Company (NGC) announced that it would develop a new LNG hub designed to supply gas from the Atlantic LNG terminal to other Caribbean nations. The hub, with an initial processing capacity of 500,000 tonnes per annum, would store, handle and ship LNG produced at the Atlantic terminal's liquefaction plant. Shipments would be made via ISO containers loaded onto feeder ships, or via small LNG carriers. NGC anticipated a start-up date of 2025 for the new export facility.