Above: Barbados (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Construction on a pipeline that will bring natural gas from Trinidad and Tobago to islands of the Eastern Caribbean will begin next year, according to the Eastern Caribbean Gas Pipeline company.

The pipeline will begin at the Cove Eco Business and Industrial Park in southwestern Tobago, with the first phase of the $300 million project to end in Barbados.

Gas will be pumped to Barbados in 2016, according to Greg Rich, the company’s CEO.

The news was announced following a meeting between Tobago Chief Secretary Orville London, Beowful Energy Principal Andy Lindholm and Clyde Williams, technical coordinator for the ECGPC.

Gas will be delivered from the BHP Billiton field east of Trinidad to the Cove, which is a $1 billion processing plant.

The 300-kilometre pipeline will also eventually deliver natural gas to other Eastern Caribbean islands.

“The extensive energy infrastructure experience and substantial financial resources of Beowulf and FREIF will accelerate the implementation of this regionally important project thereby creating long term value for the company’s investors while delivering tangible financial and environmental benefits to the islands served by the pipeline,” Rich said.

Beowulf Energy and First Reserve Energy Infrastructure Fund own a majority interest in ECGPC.