← Deepening the Gas Value Chain
Government announced that The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited – a wholly owned State company with an authorised share capital of TT$45 million – would be the sole seller of gas in Trinidad and Tobago. The Company commenced operations on August 22nd, 1975.
In 1977-78, a major 97 km/24-inch-diameter marine pipeline with a capacity of 400 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscf/d), was installed from AMOCO’s offshore Teak field to Point Galeota. Two landlines, one from Beachfield to Picton and a second from Picton to Phoenix Park were also installed.
On September 7, 1979, National Energy Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (then NEC) was established to “guide the development and management of oil, gas and other mineral resources of Trinidad and Tobago and to assist the Government in the formulation of energy and industrial policy and strategy.”
NGC was mandated to put in place the infrastructure to capture, compress and bring to shore the natural gas which was being wasted through flaring. Two compression platforms were commissioned by NGC in the Teak and Poui fields.
In 1982-83, a 30-inch-diameter marine pipeline with a capacity of 600 MMscf/d, was built from the Cassia offshore field to Phoenix Park, via Beachfield and Rio Claro. This system added 123 kilometres to the pipeline network and increased NGC’s transmission capacity to 1,000 MMscf/d.
In 1989, NGC received government’s approval to build and operate a natural gas processing plant through a joint venture with ConocoPhillips and Pan West. NGC’s initial shareholding was 49%. This was the genesis of Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited (PPGPL), incorporated in May 1989 and made operational in June 1991.
NGC was given an expanded mandate by the Government to be the ‘prime mover in gas-based development’ to facilitate and promote energy projects that would deepen and broaden gas utilisation. This new mandate required a strategic merger between NGC and NEC (now National Energy).
Product-related or commodity-linked pricing was a gas sales contract innovation developed and approved in 1988, and first used in 1993. This mechanism is credited with facilitating the rapid expansion of downstream industry and is considered a critical component of the Trinidad Gas Model of Development.
In 1998, AMOCO built two lines: a 40-inch-diameter offshore line from its Mahogany field to Beachfield and a 36-inch-diameter landline from Beachfield to Point Fortin. NGC purchased the right to transport gas through the offshore line and acquired ownership of the landline. In 1999, NGC built a 36-inch diameter landline from Beachfield to Point Lisas. NGC’s personnel carried out the design and construction of the NGC line in-house, and were involved in the design and engineering of the AMOCO lines.
ALNG Train 1 was heralded as the first Greenfield LNG project to be developed in a small country in the Western Hemisphere in 25 years. In 1999, the country shipped its first LNG cargo.
In January 1999 NEC was re-operationalised as a separate subsidiary with responsibilities for providing and managing port and marine facilities at Port Point Lisas; the management of the La Brea Estate and adjoining port on behalf of LABIDCO, as well as the continued development of new industrial sites.
In 2003, NGC reached the milestone of 100 customers in the Light Industrial/ Commercial/Transportation sector.
The NGC Group achieved a record after-tax profit of TT$ 1.2 billion in 2003, the first time the Company crossed the one billion-dollar mark.
The 36-inch-diameter BUD marine line was constructed in 2004. It served as the catalyst for NGC to deepen and expand its operations at Beachfield. The capacity of NGC’s pipeline system increased from 1.4Bcf to 2Bcf in anticipation of higher demands by new gas-based customers.
The Cross Island Pipeline (CIP) – a 77 km, 56-inch diameter onshore line – was built to transport gas to Atlantic LNG Train 4. Not only was this the largest single infrastructure project carried out by the company, but CIP was among the largest natural gas pipelines in the world.
NGC was awarded investment credit ratings of BBB+ from Standard & Poor’s, A3 from Moody’s and AAA from CariCRIS in 2005. This achievement was an acknowledgment of the company’s creditworthiness and strong operational position.
NGC’s large-scale reforestation exercise, launched in 2005, aimed to replant an area of forest equivalent to that cleared for the development of the Cross-Island Pipeline, Beachfield Upstream Development and Union Industrial Estate. This project was aligned to the Company’s policy of achieving ‘no net loss’ from business operations.
In 2011, NGC completed a 36-inch-diameter North-Eastern Offshore Pipeline (NEO), which runs southwards from the Angostura field to connect to NGC’s network in Guayaguayare, and a 12-inch-diameter Tobago line, which runs northwards, ending in Lowlands, Tobago.
Cove is the first natural gas-based industrial estate in Tobago. It includes a ground flare, the first of its kind in the country. First gas was received on the estate via the Tobago pipeline in 2012.
NGC CNG Company Limited was incorporated to accelerate and expand the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a major, alternative, transportation fuel in the country.
In 2013, NGC’s network crossed the 1,000 km mark, including both land and marine pipelines.
NGC increased its ownership of PPGPL to 90% in 2013, by acquiring ConocoPhillips’ 39% stake. This was followed by NGC’s purchase of the Exploration and Production (E&P) assets in the Angostura field of the France-based energy operator TOTAL Trinidad B.V., and Elf Exploration Trinidad B.V.’s 30% interest in Block 2 (c) and 8.5% in Block 3 (a) respectively.
Phase 1 of the new Port of Galeota, built by National Energy on behalf of the government, was opened. The Port is intended to be a logistics hub for exploration and production companies on the south-east coast and operators in regional energy provinces.
The historic Initial Public Offering of shares in TTNGL – a subsidiary of NGC with shareholding interest in PPGPL – allowed citizens for the first time to invest directly and own stakes in the energy sector. The IPO was oversubscribed 1.77 times.
Following the success of the IPO, an Additional Public Offering allowed further citizen investment in TTNGL. The public now holds 75% equity interest in the company.
Between 2015 and 2019, the NGC Group signed partnership agreements with state entities in Venezuela, Grenada, Jamaica, Ghana and Mozambique, while advancing discussions on opportunities in Guyana, Chile, the USA and Tanzania. In April 2019, NGC signed an MOU with Beijing Rheingau Investment Corporation of the People’s Republic of China, to explore cooperation relative to the oil, gas and energy industry, beginning with LNG marketing and trading.
The NGC Group embarked on a Green Agenda to support the global transition to clean energy. Among the initiatives advanced were the development of the Energy SmarTT mobile app, an operational focus on methane tracking, a carbon sequestration study at NGC’s reforestation sites, research partnerships with academia and an intensified focus on public education around clean energy.