Shell shelves Aphrodite offshore gas project in Trinidad, sources say

NGC acts as Trinidad's gas aggregator, purchasing from producers and supplying it to downstream users, including the petrochemical sector and the country's flagship liquefied natural gas project, Atlantic LNG, where Shell is a 45% shareholder.

As part of its decision, Shell has released a jack-up rig it had contracted to drill the production wells for the project, the people said.

Shell and NGC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trinidad is the largest LNG exporter in Latin America. The decision represents a setback for the Caribbean country's efforts to reverse years of declining natural gas output, which has curtailed its LNG exports and petrochemical production.

British energy producer Shell SHEL.L has shelved its Aphrodite offshore gas project in Trinidad and Tobago after disagreements over commercial terms with Trinidad's National Gas Company, three people familiar with the decision said on Monday.

Shell had given the project a positive final investment decision last year, but it has now decided not to proceed with the development after negotiations with NGC for the sale of the project's expected output of around 100 million cubic feet per day of natural gas failed, the sources said.