5 days ago
7
Trinidad and Tobago NGL Limited says the decision by the United States government to revoke licences for the exploration of gas fields in Venezuela, has resulted in impairments losses of TT$85.2 million.
TTNGL is indirectly involved in the the project due to its investment in Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited.
“Following the announcement of the revocation of licences issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of Treasury, regarding the exploration of gas fields in Venezuela, management has relooked its impairment assessment of the company’s shareholding investment in the Phoenix Park Gas Processors group,” the Trinidadian company said.
“This review was conducted based on the assessed most likely outcomes and risks associated with updated inputs and cash flows provided by PPGPL and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago,” the company’ said in its newly released financial results for the June 2025 quarter.
“This assessment resulted in the recognition of an impairment loss of TT85.2 million and consequently a loss after tax of TT$35.8 million (2024: profit after tax of TT$46.7 million),” it added.
In April, the United States revoked the OFAC licences that allowed Trinidad & Tobago to pursue natural gas projects with Venezuela, specifically the Dragon field and the Cocuina-Manakin field.
The licences allowed multinational energy giants Shell and BP, along with Trinidad’s state-owned National Gas Company, to develop offshore gas fields near the Venezuelan maritime border. The Dragon field alone holds an estimated four trillion cubic feet of gas, with first exports initially slated for 2026.
Trinidad had begun paying over the US$1 million of annual taxes to Venezuela for the expected 20-year Dragon project. But the move by Washington, which cited concerns over Venezuela’s failure to restore democratic norms and manage illegal migration, has effectively frozen the deal.
The Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago in a statement following the revocation of the licences, said the importation of pipeline gas from Venezuela for processing and onward sales to international markets, either as LNG or petrochemicals, remains a significant economic opportunity for Trinidad & Tobago.
“It is important that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago continues to engage actively with both the Government of the United States and Venezuela to find a mechanism to pursue this opportunity,” the Energy Chamber said at the time.
After she was sworn into office, Trinidad’s new Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, hinted that her administration would not be putting a lot of emphasis on the Dragon Field project with Venezuela.
“We will be foolish to not look elsewhere, and we should have started that search long ago; we should not have put everything into the Dragon gas. “That is dead. The (previous administration) kept it alive for 10 years, and if you couldn’t do that in 10 years, you cannot do it now,” she said, adding that there could also possibly be oil and gas in Tobago’s own territorial waters.
Persad-Bissessar said that in her discussions with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, soon after taking office, they spoke about the energy sector but not the Dragon gas project.
In its financial report, NGL said statement, PPGPL made a profit of US$19.3 million (approximately TT$130 million) over six months ending June, its share of which was TT$50.8 million.
The company opted not to pay a dividend due to the hit on its PPGPL investment.
“TTNGL continues to explore the options available to remedy this, subject to requisite stakeholder and statutory approval,” the company reported to shareholders.
“The success of the government’s continued commitments to further exploration and continued efforts to secure a new OFAC licence has a direct impact on the prospects for additional gas volumes to PPGPL,” said TTNGL.
“Should these materialise, they can result in improvements in the financial performance of PPGPL and, consequently, TTNGL. We remain committed to updating shareholders on these matters,” the energy company said.
TTNGL was formed in 2013, but its underlying investment, Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited, is a company with over 30 years of operating history in Trinidad and Tobago’s natural gas sector.
CMC
English (US) ·