Back in August 2021, Shell’s Ronald Adams took over the role of Atlantic LNG’s CEO from Philip Mshelbila.
Adams will be succeeded by BP’s Jean Andre Celestain, who is currently Atlantic LNG’s chief operating officer, according to a statement by Trinidad’s energy ministry.
Celestain and Adams met with Trinidad’s energy minister, Stuart Young, on August 19 in Port of Spain.
Discussions included the “major” accomplishments of Atlantic LNG for the period 2021 to 2024, the statement said.
Among these were the execution of complex ‘turn arounds’ with the train 2 turnaround in 2023 and the train 4 turnaround in 2024.
Atlantic LNG is also now at the implementation stage of a new asset management system and a fabric integrity campaign geared towards accelerating the company’s asset integrity upgrade, the statement said.
Adams also took the opportunity to officially introduce Celestain as Atlantic LNG’s CEO designate effective October 1.
Minister Young thanked outgoing CEO Adams for his “dedication and keen business sense in steering the company through its complex restructuring and welcomed Celestain with a promise of more work due to the new arrangement for third party access to the LNG trains which is projected to increase the output of the company’s natural gas liquefaction facility.”
Restructuring and gas supplies
In December 2023, Trinidad and Tobago has finally signed a restructuring deal with the shareholders of Atlantic LNG, Shell, BP, and NGC.
The new commercial structure has resulted in an increase of government shareholding through NGC from 10 percent and 11.2 percent in trains one and four respectively to 10 percent government shareholding for each of the four LNG trains.
The Point Fortin facility, which recently shipped its 4800th cargo of LNG since 1999, features four trains with a total capacity of about 15 million tonnes per annum of LNG, but the facility has been experiencing supply issues due to dwindling domestic gas reserves.
Atlantic LNG’s first train has been idled since 2020 due to reduced gas supplies.
Shell recently took the final investment decision for the development of the Manatee gas field to supply the LNG export plant.
The undeveloped gas field is located in the East Coast Marine Area (ECMA) in Trinidad and Tobago.
Manatee will allow Shell to competitively grow its integrated gas business by building on development efforts in the ECMA, one of the country’s most prolific gas-producing areas, it said.
Shell said the Manatee gas field will provide backfill for the country’s Atlantic LNG facility, adding that increasing utilization at existing LNG plants is an “important lever” to maximize potential from Shell’s existing assets.
