Australian oil and gas company Woodside Energy is seeking improved fiscal terms from the Trinidad and Tobago Government before committing to the development of the Calypso deep-water natural gas project, reported Reuters, citing the company's CEO, Meg O'Neill.

The company's decision hinges on the revision of the current contract, which was initially designed for oil discoveries rather than natural gas.

Currently, the Caribbean nation is experiencing a gas shortage, impacting its LNG and petrochemical industries.

As a result, the government has been encouraging Woodside, alongside industry giants BP and Shell, to increase its investments and activities in the region.

Speaking on the sidelines of the CERAWeek energy conference, O'Neill said: "The fiscal terms are probably well suited for oil, but they have to be a little bit different for gas."

bp owns a 30% stake in the Calypso deep-water natural gas field, which is estimated to hold 3.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas. Woodside Energy operates the project.

“I certainly appreciate when a non-operated partner wants to encourage us to move forward, but as I said we have to make sure we get the commercial matters sorted,” O'Neill added.

Earlier this year, Reuters reported that bp was anticipating the final investment decision for the Calypso field by 2025.

Furthermore, Woodside is in talks with Trinidad's National Gas Company (NGC) and the partners of the Atlantic LNG project to potentially sell the extracted gas both domestically and internationally.

O'Neill said: “It is important for us to progress the commercial and regulatory work in parallel with the technical work so we don't spend a lot of money before we have commercial line of sight.”