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off the coast of Trinidad, bringing the estimated amount of gas available at the offshore Savonette gas field to 2 trillion cubic feet. The discovery was hailed by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissesar as confirmation of Columbus Basin’s status as a world-class hy- drocarbon province. "We are advised that this is BP's largest discovery in Trinidad and Tobago in seven years and the largest discovery of nat- ural gas in Trinidad and Tobago since 2007” she said, adding that, “we also expect that this dis- covery will aid in attracting new investment into our downstream energy sector. Finally the mon- etisation of these reserves will provide revenue to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, which will further be used for the benefit of all the peoples of our nation.”


O


The good news could not have arrived at a better time, as the past few months had seen doubts beginning to rise over the future of Trinidad and Tobago's energy industry. It pro- vided an almost instant resurgence of confi- dence in Trinidad and Tobago's energy sector and the economy, whilst simultaneously dealing a blow to the critics who seemed to believe in the conceptial existence of some kind of energy crisis in Tinidad and Tobago.


The news did not necessarily come as a shock to everybody though. For many in Trinidad and Tobago, the latest findings merely served to reaffirm something which they knew all along: when it comes to investment opportu- nities for the energy industry, Trinidad and To- bago can always be relied upon to come up with the goods. So what sets Trinidad and Tobago apart from many of the world's other great destinations for investment into the energy sector? Well for one thing it is experience. The type of experience gained when you are essentially responsible for bringing the very first oil industry to the world. Whilst one might expect another of the more commonly remembered oil producing countries to bestow this title of sorts, a simple lesson in history reveals exactly why througout the years the likes of Shell, Total, Mobil, ENI, Chevron, Texaco, Exxon and BP, indeed most of the major players of the energy world, have held Trinidad and Tobago's accountable for helping to shape their own corporate structure in the petroleum industry.


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n November 19th, 2012, BP Trinidad and Tobago announced they had discovered approxi- mately 1 trillion cubic feet of gas


TRINIDAD’S FOOT ON THE GAS


By: Henry Martin


Perhaps more interestingly though is the fact


that Trinidad and Tobago is home to the world's very first energy industry and the energy indus- try's first foreign direct investors. Its geographic location, access to strategic markets worldwide and position as a distribution centre to the USA have long been a justifying factor as to why in- vestors have found the Land of the Humming- bird so appealing. Two of the four companies who are leading the major exploration pro- grammes are Ker-McGee from the USA and Canadian Superior from Canada, demonstrating Trinidad and Tobago's effectiveness of attracting foreign interest and investment. In


New European Economy


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