The restructuring shareholders agreement for Atlantic LNG (ALNG) is expected to see the merging of all four trains as single entity at the Point Fortin facility, the National Gas Company (NGC) has disclosed to Business Day.
This will include Train 1, which has been offline since December 2020.
Business Day reached out to NGC president Mark Loquan, via WhatsApp Wednesday, after the singing of a heads of agreement with ALNG shareholders – NGC, bpTT and Shell Trinidad and the Energy Minister, Stuart Young, – at Hilton Trinidad, Port of Spain on Tuesday.
Business Day asked: “Exactly how does NGC benefit from this new restructuring?” and “What does the new arrangements mean for Train 1?”
Through its corporate communications personnel, NGC responded: “We see the ALNG restructuring as hinged to upstream development which would benefit the energy sector over the medium to long term. NGC share of ownership was 10 per cent in Train 1 and 11.1 per cent in Train 4. Once all the trains are merged into a single commercial entity, NGC would benefit from increased equity across the unitised entity.”
Business Day asked again: “Just to clarify a "unitised entity" suggests that all the trains may be merged into one... is that a fair assessment?”
NGC responded saying that it was a “fair assessment.” It added that Train 1 is still non-operational.
'Historic' restructuring of ALNG
The signing of the amended and restated heads of agreement (HoA)between the Government and shareholders in ALNG was marked as historic by stakeholders at the signing ceremony.
“After years of discussions, negotiations and dialogue we are here to sign agreements that will create a simplified commercial structure for the Atlantic LNG venture,” said Eugene Okpere, Shell Trinidad country chairman.
Pointing out that for the past three years covid19 and the Russian/Ukrainian war have brought about uncertainty and volatility in the global energy markets, Okpere said more uncertainty is expected as TT continues to find a balance between energy transition and providing clean, secure and affordable energy to meet the people’s demands.
The Prime Minister explained at the signing ceremony that discussions on ALNG’s restructuring started in 2018 with Government starting the negotiations with bpTT and ShellTT. In March 2019, shareholders signed a letter of intent affirming their willingness to discuss the restructure of ALNG. The Government and shareholders signed a heads of agreement, earlier this year, on January 25 which outlined the governing principles that would form the basis of the final agreement.
The HoA was amended and restated on Tuesday with agreed terms of the final definitive restructuring agreement. After the stakeholders settle “complex and extensive legal documents,” Dr Rowley said the final agreement would be presented by March 31, next year.
Rowley said the HOA represented the commitment of all parties involved to restructure the ALNG facility into
