Rowley, Maduro sign Dragon deal

The Dragon deal is official. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro shook hands today to seal the deal that will see TT for the first time processing Venezuelan natural gas.

“TT is an exporter and processor of natural gas and natural gas products. Venezuelan natural gas has never been an input in that business but after today, what we anticipate will happen is in the very near future, Venezuelan natural gas will come to market in the international market place and me monetized for the benefit of the people of TT and Venezuela,” Rowley said after the signing ceremony. The sky is the limit, he added, in terms of future cooperation between the two nations.

TT news reporters were not allowed to witness the signing nor ask questions about the event. Photographers and cameramen were, but could not ask questions.

Rowley thanked Maduro for allowing the deal, saying that whole it arrived a little later than anticipated, it’s “not too late to embark on this exciting journey.”

Rowley and a government delegation arrived in Caracas earlier today to sign the agreement with the Maduro administration that allows TT to process gas from the Dragon field.

The Rowley-led team, including a local press corps, left Trinidad at about 8 am before arriving in Caracas shortly after 10 am. The Prime Minister was greeted by representatives of the Venezuelan government. Apart from the Prime Minister, TT is represented by Energy Minister Franklin Khan, Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Alyson West and Sports Minister Shamfa Cudjoe, as well as National Gas Company (NGC) executives. Representatives from Shell— which has the rights to drill in the field— and officials from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA are also expected to attend today's signing. The signing was moved to Caracas because of concerns of of Tuesday's 6.9 earthquake.

In December 2016, Rowley had visited Venezuela, and along with the country's president, Maduro, signed an agreement that put the Dragon agreement in motion.

A special purpose vehicle between multinational energy giant Shell and the NGC has been created to lay down the infrastructure; Shell’s pipelines, including those in the North Coast Marine Acreage will be used to transport Dragon’s gas to the Hibiscus platform off the north-west coast of Trinidad and only 18 kilometres away from the gas field. Hibiscus is jointly owned by the TT government and Shell.

The first tranche of Dragon’s production will yield about 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd), or 26,505 barrel of oil equivalent per day (boed). For comparison, Petrotrin produces 43,000 barrels of oil per day and 130 mmscfd; bpTT’s Juniper well, which came on stream in the latter half of 2017, produces about 590 mmscfd.

The Dragon field is part of the Mariscal Sucre natural gas complex off the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, north west of Trinidad— and near the epicenter of Tuesday’s quake. Dragon is just one of the fields in a total acreage reserve of 14.7 trillion cubic feet of gas. Dragon alone contains 2.4 tcf.

**JUst In**