Shell and BP are both expected to hand out contract awards tied to their Trinidad & Tobago portfolios, according to Upstream's weekly deals roundup — a signal that the two operators are moving forward on gas projects the Caribbean nation needs to shore up LNG feedstock.

The awards span the supplier bracing typically required ahead of offshore development and tieback work in the basin, with service companies positioning for scopes across both supermajors' Trinidadian holdings. BP and Shell together anchor the country's gas production complex, which feeds the Point Fortin LNG export plant and the petrochemical cluster on the Point Lisas industrial estate.

What does this mean for Trinidad's gas outlook?

Trinidad & Tobago has spent several years grappling with declining upstream gas output, and the government in Port of Spain has pressed operators to bring new volumes online quickly. Contract awards are the hard-edged precursor to that: before platforms, jackets, subsea tiebacks or drilling programs move, the engineering, fabrication and installation scopes must be placed.

For BP, activity centres on its deep-water acreage off Trinidad's east coast, where the operator has been working to sustain liquefaction supply. For Shell, the focus covers its position in the Columbus Basin and the assets acquired through the BG portfolio, which supply both domestic industry and Atlantic LNG.

Upstream's "Deals of the Week" column tracks tendering and award activity across the sector, and its inclusion of both operators in a single week points to a coordinated pick-up in spending on the shelf and slope off Trinidad rather than isolated procurement.

Sanctioned work versus appraisal-stage promise

A caution for readers watching the basin: award activity is a reliable indicator of near-term execution, but not every tender in Trinidad converts into sanctioned development. Operators have used phased contracting in the past to hold optionality on gas projects where reserves, fiscal terms or LNG offtake remain under negotiation.

The distinction matters for the country's supply balance. Point Lisas ammonia and methanol plants and the Atlantic LNG trains at Point Fortin all compete for the same upstream molecules, and timing slippage on any one tieback ripples through the downstream calendar.

The watch item

The specifics of the awards — scope sizes, contractor names and contract values — sit behind Upstream's paywall, and Rig & Refinery has not independently verified the individual packages. What bears monitoring now is the pace of conversion: how quickly these braced awards translate into fabrication slots, rig mobilisations and first gas dates.

Watch also for Port of Spain's response. Energy ministry officials have repeatedly tied negotiation of new deep-water terms and cross-border gas arrangements, including talks with Venezuela, to the health of the domestic production base. Every award Shell and BP place off Trinidad is a data point in that broader argument about whether the country's gas renaissance is real or aspirational.