Jamaicans has been sold on the idea that LNG is our best choice for lower energy cost, but for the last 14 years, we have not yet figured out how to get a reliable source of LNG at a price that can give us lower energy cost.
Some of the the major producers of LNG for export are Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, Indonesia and USA, but here is the problem we have getting this into Jamaica
Trinidad as a Caricom partner does not appear too willing to supplying Jamaica any LNG and so this seems to be a non-starter.
Australia and Indonesia are too away to get LNG to Jamaica at an affordable price and so this does not seem to be the most viable option.
LNG from USA is significantly cheaper, but the volume that Jamaica needs is so minuscule no reputable company would want to engage in any sort of long-term agreement to sell us LNG. That is only a part of the problem. LNG exports from USA is tightly controlled and any company wishing to export LNG must apply for an get a license to export from the Secretary for Fossil Energy in the Department of Energy DOE.
There are only a few companies who are interested and have been approved by the DOE to export LNG from ports in the USA to countries in the Caribbean and one such company is Carib Energy USA. Another company filed papers with the DOE in December 2014 seeking permission to export LNG from the USA to the Caribbean region and this application is currently under review. See filing documents attached
Here is one important piece of excerpt from the document ( page 12)
The government needs to stop making grand announcements and spread misinformation. What is required is for a team of experts to get the process started have agreements signed sealed and delivered after which the announcements are made.
The timeline of 2018 given by Dr Vin Lawrence is yet another number plucked out of the sky and is not grounded in any sort of fact given that nothing is yet in place to see these plants of the ground. Dr Vin Lawrence is not a man known to operate this way, so I suspect the political directorate is yet once again at work led by none other than ” Mr Announcement who gets nothing done”, from who the project was allegedly yanked sometime last year.
How quickly does the public forget, we never seem to pay attention to what is happening, instead we are quick to celebrate announcements and do not even bother with the follow-up.
Jamaica has a bargaining chip and it appears that we do not want to use it to get what it is that we want, so I will share it with you simply for completeness.
Jamaica can generate electricity at a lower cost with coal that it can hope to do with LNG. Coal prices are very stable unlike LNG which is set to go higher as the demand for LNG increases.
USA LNG exporters can make close to 30% more by selling LNG to ASIA than it can hope to gain in the the Caribbean and Latin America and so there is little incentive to sell LNG to Jamaica.
Congress approved the Energy Security and Independence Act 2007 and there is specific reference under Section 901 , Title IX to help countries like Jamaica if they don’t want us to use coal for base-load generation due to green house gases concern.
The specific sections of the act to which AI am referring are as follows.
Subtitle A—Assistance to Promote Clean and Efficient Energy Technologies in Foreign Countries SEC. 911. UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
(a) ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED.—The Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall support policies and programs in developing countries that promote clean and efficient energy technologies—
(1) to produce the necessary market conditions for the private sector delivery of energy and environmental management services;
(2) to create an environment that is conducive to accepting clean and efficient energy technologies that support the overall purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including—
(A) improving policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks;
(B) increasing institutional abilities to provide energy and environmental management services; and
(C) increasing public awareness and participation in the decision-making of delivering energy and environmental management services; and
(3) to promote the use of American-made clean and efficient energy technologies, products, and energy and environmental management services.
(b) REPORT.—The Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees an annual report on the implementation of this section for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012.
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development $200,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012.
( The period may have been expired by I am sure if we approach the USA for LNG export telling them we will go coal due to its lower cost, they may take notice).
I will also add Section 912 under which I believe we can push the USA to be of greater assistance.
SEC. 912. UNITED STATES EXPORTS AND OUTREACH PROGRAMS FOR INDIA, CHINA, AND OTHER COUNTRIES. (a) ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED.—
The Secretary of Commerce shall direct the United States and Foreign Commercial Service to expand or create a corps of the Foreign Commercial Service officers to promote United States exports in clean and efficient energy technologies and build the capacity of government officials in India, China, and any other country the Secretary of Commerce determines appropriate, to become more familiar with the available technologies—
(1) by assigning or training Foreign Commercial Service attache´s, who have expertise in clean and efficient energy technologies from the United States, to embark on business development and outreach efforts to such countries; and
(2) by deploying the attache´s described in paragraph (1) to educate provincial, state, and local government officials in such countries on the variety of United States-based technologies in clean and efficient energy technologies for the purposes of promoting United States exports and reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
(b) REPORT.—The Secretary of Commerce shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees an annual report on the implementation of this section for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012.
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012.
In the recent meeting with Joe Biden in the USA, I wondered aloud in the Minister of Mining and Energy Phillip Paulwell and the Prime Minister raised the issue of the two relevant sections of the act mentioned above in our quest for energy security in Jamaica and lower electricity cost .
We need to be acutely aware of the tools available when we go into these meetings so we can utilize them to be benefit of the country.
If we can get USA LNG then Jamaica has a good shot at bring down electricity cost in Jamaica.
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