Atlantic LNG circulated a statement to project partners Wednesday saying that it is too early to conclude that the ongoing strike by workers who are building the facility’s 800 MMcf/d fourth LNG train will delay completion of the expansion project past December 2005.

“Despite a complete shutdown of construction activities on the Atlantic LNG Train 4 construction site for six weeks to date, the hand over date in December 2005 from Bechtel International to Atlantic LNG may still be met due to the fact that the project had been well ahead of schedule,” the company told project partners, according to Paula Rockstroh, a spokeswoman for Tractebel LNG. “Atlantic LNG continues to maintain that it is too early to conceded that the project might be delayed. Each of the previous three trains was delivered ahead of schedule.”

Strikers are demanding that the government of Trinidad and Tobago impose a minimum wage for oil and gas construction projects that is 40% above the minimum rate currently paid on the site. The strikers have remained off of the job site since the government refused to consider the proposal. Conditional negotiations are underway to resolve the wage disagreements and to facilitate a return to work.

“Our understanding is that a vast majority of workers want to return to work but they have not made a forecast on when they might return,” Rockstroh said.

An agreement was reached quickly two weeks ago in Trinidad with striking tug boat workers who had completely shut down LNG tanker traffic because of a wage dispute (see Daily GPI, March 15). The short-lived event had minimal impact on the U.S. gas market, but some saw it as a warning sign of the new supply risks the United States will face in the coming years as LNG makes up a growing portion of the supply mix.

Although LNG remains a small portion of overall U.S. gas supply today (1.4 Bcf/d in 2003 compared to 53 Bcf/d of domestic dry gas production and 60 Bcf/d of total demand), the Energy Information Administration expects net LNG imports to rise to 2.06 Bcf/d in 2005, with Trinidad making up a large portion of those totals. Consultants at Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc. in Arlington, VA, said recently that they believe LNG will grow to 5.5 Tcf/year (15 Bcf/d) by 2020.

The Atlantic LNG consortium has five shareholder companies: BP (34%), British Gas (26%), Repsol (20%), National Gas Company of Trinidad (10%), and Tractebel (10%).

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