Trinidad to feel the pinch

PORT OF SPAIN, June 21, 2016 – Suffering from dwindling fiscal revenues on account of lower oil and gas prices, Trinidad and Tobago’s fiscal deficit is projected to widen to more than 10% of GDP, according to recent IMF estimates.

The collapse in energy prices and sluggish non-hydrocarbons growth will see the island nation record a deficit of 10.9% of GDP over the 2015-2016 financial year, the IMF said late on Monday. Trinidad’s poor performance also saw the 2014-2015 deficit increase to 4.7%. Real GDP was down 2.1% over 2015 and is projected to decline by another 2.7% this year.

Trinidad and Tobago’s production of oil and gas has been on a steady decline for more than a decade, hitting some 110,000 bopd and 39.6 bcm (1.4 tcf), respectively, in 2015, according to the BP Statistical Review. Having collected 21,000 square kilometres of 3D seismic in 2015, Australia’s BHP Billiton in May this spud Trinidad’s first deepwater exploration well targeting a Miocene-aged structure that could potentially produce more than 100,000 bopd.

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