23-07-08 Trinidad and Tobago has 13 years of natural gas reserves left if it continues to consume the commodity at its current rate and does not recover any more. The country will not run out of gas, though, as producers continue to drill offshore Trinidad for gas for major energy projects.
A gas audit by United States petroleum consultants Ryder Scott showed that Trinidad's proven reserves stood at 16.9 tcf for the year ended December 31, 2007. This was marginally lower than the 17 tcf of proven gas the country had in 2006.

The last gas audit by Ryder Scott showed the country had about 12 years of gas left if it found nothing else. Ryder Scott senior petroleum engineer Larry McHalffey said that production last year amounted to 1.29 tcf and the country had replaced all the natural gas it used last year through exploration and recovery.
"The (local) operators were very active and this caused the stabilisation," in the country's proved reserves, he said during a presentation of the audit results atthe Hyatt Regency hotel, Port of Spain.

Probable and possible gas reserves stood at 7.8 tcf and 5.8 tcf respectively, giving a total of exploration resources of 30.7 tcf. This figure was down from 31 tcf in 2006. McHalffey said Ryder Scott expected that additional yet-to-be-recovered gas would add to the resource base but at this point, the country's proved reserves were 55 % of total, with probable and possible at 26 % and 19 % respectively.
"This is a very good scenario," for Trinidad, McHalffey said.

Based on Ryder Scott's reserves to production ratio calculation, the country now has 13 years of natural gas left if it continues to consume gas at its current rate without finding more. But this will not happen, Energy Minister Conrad Enill said.
All the 13-year reserves scenario means is that "if we do nothing", the country will have this left, he told following the Ryder Scott presentation. It also means the country has enough gas for what it has planned, he added.

At the same time, Enill acknowledged there were challenges to the sector, with high demand matching high energy prices. As a result, the country is "doing more and needs to do more".
For instance, Government plans to sign nine production sharing contracts between this year and 2009 for exploration of offshore blocks in the North Coast Marine Area, Enill said. This would bolster reserves and place more gas in the proven reserves category as opposed to probable and possible quantities of gas.