MIAMI, Florida – Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Stuart Young, says the oil rich twin island republic has found itself “experiencing the collateral damage of the geopolitics” as a result of the ongoing tense relationship between the United States and Venezuela.
Energy and Energy Industries Minister Stuart Young addressing AIEN conference in Miami (Photo courtesy Ministry of Energy)In an address to the Energy International Summit of the Association of International Negotiators (AIEN), Young said that Venezuela, which is seven miles from Trinidad and Tobago sits on the largest known oil reserves in the world.
“We have a number of cross border fields with Venezuela and across the border there are significant proven gas fields in Venezuelan waters a matter of kilometers away from existing infrastructure in Trinidad and Tobago waters.”.
Young said the two countries in 2017, negotiated a commercial term sheet with Venezuela to develop a significant gas field with three trillion cubic feet (tcf) of proven gas reserves, known as the Dragon gas field, and to bring the gas to Trinidad via 17 kms of pipeline, to one of the country’s offshore facilities.
Speaking on the theme “Pursuit of Energy Security and Sustainability – A Caribbean Perspective,” Young said Trinidad and Tobago had intended to use this gas in its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petrochemical plants.
“We had planned to start with 350 mmscf a day and this would have been flowing from 2020 save for the sanctions that were subsequently imposed by the US. We became the victims of the geopolitics surrounding our nearest neighbor. Unfortunately we are experiencing the collateral damage of the geopolitics,” Young told the international conference.
He said that there is a cross border gas field that his country shares with Venezuela, called Loran/ Manatee and that it has approximately 10 tcf of gas with 2.7 tcf in Manatee which is on Trinidad’s side and the remaining 7.3 tcf in Loran which is on Venezuela’s side of the border.
“This field had been the subject of a unitization development agreement. In 2019, we successfully negotiated with the Venezuelan government to permit us to commence the development and production of the Manatee resources giving us access to the 2.7 tcf of gas. We subsequently negotiated with Shell for Shell to produce Manatee an investment that is expected to be in the order of one billion US dollars”.
Young said with respect to Trinidad and Tobago’s access to the Dragon gas field, both Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and himself spent significant time and energy in the United States last year meeting with the decision makers in Washington, including President Joe Biden at the Summit of the Americas as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties negotiating and advocating for the grant of a waiver from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for Trinidad and Tobago to produce the Dragon gas field with Shell as our partner.
“I personally made over six trips to Washington DC in 2022 and worked with our lawyers to pursue the application to OFAC. With the support of other leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), we pursued the ability to access this gas field as there is the immediate excess capacity in Trinidad for us to produce additional LNG, Ammonia and fertilizer products and Methanol once we can produce the gas field, thereby contributing to energy security in the CARICOM and wider region.
“ We would be able to provide additional LNG supplies to CARICOM countries and even Europe as it looks for alternatives to Russian gas,” he told the conference.
Young said that OFAC granted a waiver on January 24 and Trinidad and Tobago has been pursuing negotiations with the Venezuelan government to obtain a license to produce the Dragon gas field.
“This particular project is caught in the world of geopolitics and requires the most delicate of negotiations including, but not limited to, further and on-going negotiations with the United States and Venezuela. I look forward to us being able to bring this project to fruition,” Young said.
In his lengthy presentation to the conference, Young, said the deep water province in Trinidad and Tobago is the next frontier for gas exploration and production.
“Our shallow waters have been exploited for decades and are in decline. We have been in active negotiations with Woodside on fiscal and commercial terms to commence the production of a deep water block where hydrocarbon resources have been found.
“This project called Calypso holds the medium term future of Trinidad and Tobago’s gas production. We have had to be innovative, and to think outside of the box, as we engage in these negotiations. Again, the benefit of relationships and mutual respect have assisted in growing Woodside’s interest in pursuing this resource.”
Young said Port of Spain is in on going discussions in pursuance of this development and these discussions have certainly had a positive impact on Woodside’s allocation of internal resources to the project.
He said the Trinidad and Tobago government has been negotiating with bp and Shell as a joint consortium on other deep water blocks and he was looking orward to the conclusion of those negotiations in the coming weeks.
“Like every responsible hydrocarbon country we have been taking decisions with respect to reducing green house gas emissions and pursuing new energy projects,” Young said, noting that Trinidad and Tobago recently turned to sod for the commencement of the construction of a solar project that will produce 112.2 MW of power which is 10 per cent of the country’s power needs.
“This project is a joint one with bp and Shell who have shown continued commitment to Trinidad and Tobago. We intend to pursue more solar projects to reduce our emissions and also to permit us to use the gas saved to generate revenue for Trinidad and Tobago.
“We are also exploring the use of wind turbines for power generation. These renewables projects would also feed into the recently Cabinet approved construction of our first green hydrogen project which will be done under the direction of the Ministry of Energy.”
Young said that Trinidad and Tobago is also actively looking at Carbon Capture Sequestration and Utilization to do its part in carbon reduction but also if done properly and in a public-private partnership (PPP) with petrochemical stakeholders it could provide them with the opportunity to blue their products thereby keeping them competitive in the changing energy landscape.
Young said that Trinidad and Tobago, whilst focusing on evolving and protecting its gas sector, is also ensuring that it pursues the energy transition and has the components of new energy in its mix.
