Trinidad and Tobago to Maintain Gas Agreements With Venezuela Amid US Sanctions
Offshore gas platform. Photo: File photo.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Trinidad and Tobago’s newly elected prime minister, attorney Kamla Persad-Bissessar, announced this week that her administration will continue hydrocarbon trade with Venezuela, marking one of her first directives since taking office. Persad-Bissessar stated that her government will begin talks with the administration of US President Donald Trump to safeguard cross-border gas projects with Venezuela, which are deemed critical to Trinidad and Tobago’s economy, Argus Media reported.
David Lee, the nominee for energy minister, emphasized the importance of partnering with the US to address illegal US sanctions linked to the April 2025 revocation of licenses that had allowed Trinidad and Tobago to develop a gas field partnership with Venezuela. The incoming United National Congress (UNC) administration also plans to halt negotiations with Nigerian company Oando to reopen the Guaracara refinery, opting instead to seek new investors—a shift from the previous government’s policies.
“We will work with the Trump administration to explore reopening discussions with Venezuela on cross-border gas fields,” said UNC energy spokesperson David Lee. The partnership focuses on the Dragon and Manakin-Cocuina gas fields, which could boost global liquefied natural gas (LNG) output.
LNG production in Trinidad and Tobago fell by 4.6% in 2024, totaling 16.7 million m³. The Atlantic liquefaction plant, operated by Shell and BP, remains the country’s sole LNG producer. Meanwhile, crude oil production has plummeted from 144,400 barrels per day (b/d) in 2005 to 50,854 b/d in 2024, contributing to the 2018 closure of the state-owned Guaracara refinery.
As a top LNG exporter, Trinidad and Tobago aims to sustain its Venezuelan energy partnerships to revitalize its economy, while Venezuela needs to keep the project operational to boost its income from foreign revenue which has been heavily affected by US sanctions.
Last year, on July 24, seven energy cooperation agreements were signed between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, with the aim of developing the resources of the Cocuina field in the Orinoco Delta region of northeastern Venezuela, after the Biden administration granted an OFAC license to Trinidad and Tobago to partner with Venezuela’s PDVSA.
The then minister for energy and energy industries of Trinidad and Tobago, Stuart Richard Young, signed the agreements on behalf of his country, noting that the benefits of the resulting projects would be for the peoples of both nations.
“Today is a historic and monumental day for the people of Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, and it would not have been possible without your blessing, President [Maduro], we are very grateful,” said Young, addressing President Maduro.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/JB
