Young: Efforts ongoing to save Dragon

PRIME Minister Stuart Young says efforts continue to be made to ensure cross-border energy deals with Venezuela come to fruition.

Young, who is also the Energy Minister, spoke at a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall on March 20.

Young reminded the media about the last briefing held at the same venue on this issue on February 27.

“We will continue working. I will personally continue working, Fighting is the language I used for Trinidad and Tobago. That has continued.”

Young said, “Very, very shortly. I will be able to provide some additional information to TT with respect to those lines.

“I made a call just before coming down here and I think it will be a little premature for me to say anything at this stage.”

Young said, “We continue to do work. Things are very, very fluid and in the not too distant future, I will talk to you all about some of the things that we are doing and what is expected.”

In a post on social media last month, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said, “Today, pursuant to @POTUS directive, I am providing foreign policy guidance to terminate all Biden-era oil and gas licences that have shamefully bankrolled the illegitimate (Venezuelan president Nicolas) Maduro regime.”

In a subsequent post on March 18, Rubio warned Venezuela could face additional sanctions if it does not accept its citizens who are repatriated from the US.

On February 26, US president Donald Trump announced a licence granted under the Biden administration in November 2022 for Chevron to operate joint ventures with Venezuela’s state-controlled oil company PDVSA, was cancelled.

The announcements follow an increased bounty offer on Maduro by the US government in early January, US$25 million was offered for information leading to the Venezuelan president’s arrest on outstanding narco-terrorism charges filed in the US in 2020.

One of the licences granted by the Biden administration was for the TT-Venezuela Dragon gas deal.

On December 21, 2023, the Venezuelan government issued the licence to NGC (National Gas Company) and Shell to develop and export natural gas from the Dragon gas field to TT.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which falls under the US Treasury, played a key role in granting this licence under the Biden administration.

Concerns were raised about whether the Dragon project could be in jeopardy after Donald Trump won the presidential election on November 4. The US$1 billion Dragon gas deal was first signed between TT and Venezuela in August 2018. But it was left in limbo after the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela in 2019. Trump was president at that time.

In a letter to Trump on November 6, then-prime minister Dr Keith Rowley said, “The Republic of TT and the USA share a long and enduring relationship, founded on deep ties across many sectors, including trade, security, culture and people-to-people exchanges.”

Rowley added, “We look forward to further strengthening our co-operation in the years ahead.”

Reuters reported on February 25 that government would meet with the US to extend the licence for the Dragon project.

At the TT Energy Conference in Port of Spain on February 11, Rowley said government intends to engage the Trump administration on the importance of several energy projects, including the Dragon project and the Manakin-Cocuina project.

He said the projects were important not only to TT, but also to the region’s energy security.

Last July, government secured a 20-year licence from Venezuela for bpTT to exploit the Cocunia field on the Venezuela side of the unified one trillion cubic feet Cocuina/Manakin field of which bpTT already has an operatorship of the Manakin part lying in TT water.

Rowley resigned as prime minister on March 16 and Young officially succeeded him one day later.

On March 20, Young also disclosed his intention as prime minister to address the issue of foreign exchange.

He said Cabinet agreed to his decision to invite the Central Bank, the Bankers Association, the heads and CEOs of all banks to meet with him and Finance Minister Vishnu Dhanpaul at Whitehall on March 25 at 2.30 pm to discuss foreign exchange (forex) and its allocation.

Young added the media will be invited to cover the opening of that meeting.

The media, he continued, will subsequently be advised in a transparent manner of its outcome.

“The fact is we have less forex than we used to. That is a fact of life.”

Young said the meeting will involve looking at the allocation of available forex among the population.