TRINIDAD-Former prime minister urges “caution” when declaring the Dragon gas project dead.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC—Former prime minister Stuart Young Monday “cautioned” the new Trinidad and Tobago government from discarding the Dragon Field energy project with Venezuela after Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar described it as “dead.”

“To hear without any analysis, without looking at any documentation regarding the Dragon gas, to listen to the Honourable Prime Minister…to say the Dragon gas is dead, we should not have put everything in the Dragon gas.

“It is very, very frightening, and quite frankly, it is very irresponsible,” Young told a news conference, adding, “It is very irresponsible for any government governing Trinidad and Tobago and wanting what is best for Trinidad and Tobago and without even looking at the documentation that exists to declare it dead immediately.

Last weekend, Prime Minister Persad Bissessar gave the biggest hint that her administration, unlike the previous People’s National Movement (PNM) governments, would not be putting much emphasis on the Dragon Field project with Venezuela.

Speaking to reporters after her members of the Cabinet were sworn into office, Prime Minister Persad Bissessar told reporters, “We would be foolish not to look elsewhere, and we should have started that search long ago; we should not have put everything into Dragon gas.

“That is dead. The(PNM) kept it alive for 10 years, and if you couldn’t do that in 10 years, you cannot do it now,” she said, adding that there could also possibly be oil and gas in Tobago’s territorial waters.

She said that in her discussions with the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, over the last weekend, while they spoke about the energy sector, they did not discuss the Dragon gas project.

Last month, the United States government revoked the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) license granted to Trinidad and Tobago to allow Shell, the National Gas Company (NGC), and contractors to explore, produce, and export natural gas from the Venezuelan Dragon Gas Field.

The license was valid until October 31, 2025, and enabled Trinidad and Tobago to pay for gas in various currencies and through humanitarian measures. On December 21, 2023, Trinidad and Tobago also secured a 30-year exploration and production license from the government of Venezuela for the Dragon gas field.

Washington has also revoked the Cocuina-Manakin license granted to Port of Spain on May 31, 2024.

Port of Spain had been planning to request an extension from Washington for a license granted to Shell and the NGC to develop the Dragon gas project in Venezuela.

The license, issued in early 2023, allows the companies to plan the project. The project aims to supply gas to Trinidad by 2027. The Dragon Field is located in Venezuelan waters near the maritime border with Trinidad.

Stuart, the minister of energy and energy industries in the previous two PNM administrations, said, “We have a 30-year license with Venezuela.

“That has never happened before. You have a 30-year exploration, production, and exportation of gas license with Venezuela, “he told reporters, “Do not forget that the main shareholder in that deal is Shell.”

Young said that two huge international oil and gas companies operate in Trinidad and Tobago, and Shell is one of them. So, to take the position without any decision, without looking at a document that the (Dragon) deal is dead, what does that mean for Trinidad and Tobago?

‘What does that mean for our future concerning a company like Shell, whom we worked so hard to persuade to continue to invest in Trinidad and Tobago? These are the decisions where there should be less haste and less politics. It is not to hurt the PNM…these things will be detrimental to Trinidad and Tobago”.

Young said that his last conversation with Rubio “was positive.” He had refrained from making any public statement on the issue and that anyone involved in international diplomatic relations would have noted that the readout from the US State Department on the meeting “would have seen very, very clearly” that the United States had been given about the future of the energy sector here.

“That was confirmed in black and white after a telephone conversation. We were on track to work with the United States concerning energy security…,” Young said.

Young also cautionedcautioned the new government about seeking a closer working relationship with Grenada, Guyana, and Suriname in the energy sector.

Prime Minister Persad Bissessar said that the newly appointed Minister of Energy and Energy Industrial, Dr. Roodal Moonilal, has been “mandated, instructed “to explore Guyana’s offer to bring gas to Trinidad and Tobago and what we can do with Suriname…

“But I have a surprise for you. I intend to send my Minister of Energy to Grenada because I have been told that Grenada offshore has more gas and oil than Dragon Field. Shall we explore that?” she asked, adding, “Let us explore that so we can live and work together in CARICOM.”

Young observed that Moonilal had indicated that Grenada has more oil and gas reserves than the Dragon field, saying, “I just like to offer some cautionary words concerning this.”

He said in 2012, the first Persad Bissessar-led government had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Grenada. In 2018, the National Gas Company (NGC) here signed a commercial arrangement with a Russian company called  Global Petroleum Group in Grenada.

‘The facts are this one well was drilled in a field called nutmeg, and that one exploration well, unfortunately, had to be abandoned and capped. That is since 2018. The way the energy sector works, right now, there are no proven reserves …so at this stage, I would caution about this concept … the fact that since 2018 up to now, there has been no progress and no proven reserves… certainly means it is  very very far from any commercialization.”

Regarding closer cooperation with Guyana and Suriname, Young reminded reporters that any deal reached would involve a pipeline running in Venezuelan waters.

“That is the reality of Trinidad and Tobago. Any gas from Guyana or Suriname to Trinidad and Tobago must pass through Venezuela’s territorial waters. So Venezuela remains in the equation after all that needs to be done,” Young told reporters.