Khan: Venezuela’s issues will delay Dragon gas

ENERGY Minister Franklin Khan says the domestic issues in Venezuela will delay the receipt of gas from the Dragon deal but the deal was still on track.

Speaking in the Senate yesterday, Khan said discussions among the representatives of the various stakeholders including the TT Government and the Venezuelan government, the National Gas Company (NGC), Shell and PDVSA “have progressed well over the last two years resulting in inter alia the execution of several documents including the term sheet in August of 2018 between PDVSA, NGC and Shell outlining the key parameters for the development and the sale of gas from the Dragon field.”

Khan said the next and final step involved the negotiation of a fully-termed gas sales agreement which will inform the final investment decisions by the parties.

“As is well known now recent domestic challenges being experienced in Venezuela have adversely affected the projected pace of these discussions. However, all stakeholders are confident that given the sound technical and commercial basis with which the project has been developed and the obvious benefits which will accrue to both Venezuela and TT all outstanding issues can and will be comfortably addressed.”

Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen asked, with the issues in Venezuela, when the population can expect the gas from the Dragon gas deal to finally arrive on the shores of TT. Khan replied he had previously said in the House (in January) the first gas is estimated to arrive in the latter part of 2021.

“Obviously if there are delays that time line will stretch. The situation in Venezuela is very fluid. We haven’t made direct monetary investment in the deal as yet; it is just agreements being signed. Why we feel confident is that in the long term there is a good symbiotic relationship between Eastern Venezuela and Western Trinidad’s gas infrastructure. And we are quite confident that when the dust settles everything will come back and the deal can continue along the path that it is supposed to be on.”