Major Atlantic LNG Unit Goes Offline in Trinidad

Atlantic LNG has taken a major processing train offline in Trinidad for planned maintenance, tightening supply from one of the Atlantic Basin’s key LNG export hubs during an already constrained global market.

(Reuters) — Trinidad and Tobago’s flagship Atlantic LNG facility shut its Train 4 processing unit on May 26 for planned maintenance, according to two people with knowledge of the operations and the chairman of the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago, (NGC), Gerald Ramdeen.

The outage is expected to last nearly two months and could remove as much as half of Atlantic LNG’s total production capacity during the period, the sources said. The interruption tightens the near-term supply of liquefied natural gas from the Caribbean producer at a time when global markets are already constrained due to the loss of significant volumes from Qatar.

Ramdeen told Reuters on May 26 that the shutdown was scheduled and not tied to any specific operational issue, fault or unplanned disruption. The plant is jointly owned by Shell, BP and NGC.

Shell, BP and Atlantic LNG did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Atlantic LNG, Latin America’s largest liquefied natural gas export facility, has the capacity to ship about 12 million metric tons per annum of LNG. Train 4, which has a capacity of about 6 MMtpy, is roughly the size of Golden Pass LNG’s Train 1 in the U.S., which recently entered service.

The complex has struggled in recent years due to declining domestic natural gas supplies, which have constrained output and forced operational decisions. Last year, Atlantic LNG permanently shut its smallest unit, Train 1, removing approximately 3.5 MMtpy of capacity and marking a significant step-down in overall production.

The shutdown of Train 4 highlights the continued impact of feedgas shortages and maintenance cycles on Trinidad’s LNG exports.