Finance
Trinidad awaits field plan to green-light Shell's Aphrodite gas project
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 9, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 9, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Trinidad awaits Shell's development plan for the Aphrodite gas project, with first gas expected in 2027. Approval is pending on meeting specific conditions.
By Curtis Williams
Dec 9 (Reuters) - Trinidad and Tobago's government is waiting for a development plan from energy producer Shell to push forward the Aphrodite offshore gas project, documents seen by Reuters showed.
Shell said in June that it had made a positive final investment decision on the discovery, which is expected to produce first gas in 2027 and have a peak production of 18,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
In a letter to Shell dated November 24, Trinidad's Energy Ministry said the company had not fully met required conditions and that a field development plan must be submitted before the government would grant approval, one of the documents showed.
Trinidad and Shell, one of the main gas producers in the Caribbean country, have been in negotiations for almost a year on extending four licenses that are part of Shell's prolific East Coast Marine Area where the Aphrodite discovery was made, according to the documents.
Trinidad set three conditions in order for Shell to obtain the five-year extension the company is requesting: a positive final investment decision on the discovery, approval of a field development plan, and a $4 million payment as signature bonus for the extension, the documents showed.
"Shell remains committed to the development of the Aphrodite project after taking final investment decision earlier this year," a company spokesperson said on Tuesday, without providing further details. "We continue to work closely with all relevant parties."
Shell agreed to the bonus, according to one of the documents, but it was not immediately clear if it was paid. The project is still pending government approval, sources close to the project said on Tuesday.
Shell has a 45% stake in Trinidad's flagship Atlantic LNG project, which can produce up to 12 million metric tons per annum (MTPA) of liquefied natural gas, but has been hit by a shortfall of natural gas. That means Shell has not been able to get its full share of over 5.5 MTPA of LNG from the plant.
Trinidad has been pushing operators to increase gas production to reduce the shortfall for Atlantic LNG and the country's petrochemical plants.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams in HoustonEditing by Matthew Lewis)
A development plan is a detailed proposal outlining the steps and resources needed to develop a project, including timelines, costs, and regulatory compliance.
A final investment decision is a commitment by a company to proceed with a project after evaluating its feasibility, costs, and potential returns.
Peak production refers to the maximum output level that a project or facility can achieve, typically measured in barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas that has been cooled to a liquid state for ease of storage and transport, typically used in energy production.
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