Shell cancels Aphrodite offshore project in Trinidad: sources

Three people familiar with this decision have confirmed that British energy producer Shell has cancelled its Aphrodite offshore?gas?project with Trinidad's National Gas Company after "disagreements" over commercial terms.

Shell gave the project a positive investment decision in the past, but has decided to not proceed with the development because the negotiations for the sale of the expected 100 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from the project failed.

NGC is Trinidad's gas aggregator. It purchases from producers, and supplies it to downstream consumers, such as the petrochemical industry and Atlantic LNG, the country's largest liquefied-natural-gas project. Shell holds 45% of the shares.

Shell released the jack-up drilling rig that it had contracted for?drilling the production wells of the?project', according to the people.

Shell and NGC didn't immediately respond to comments.

Trinidad is the largest LNG exporter of?Latin America. This decision is a blow to Trinidad's efforts at reversing years of decreasing?natural gas production, which has curtailed LNG exports and its petrochemical output.

(source: Reuters)