PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago NGL (TTNGL) says the decision by the United States government to revoke the licences regarding the exploration of gas fields in Venezuela has resulted in an after-tax loss of $35.8 million (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents).
“Following the announcement of the revocation of licences issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury, regarding the exploration of gas fields in Venezuela, management has re-examined its impairment assessment of the company’s shareholding investment in the Phoenix Park Gas Processors Ltd (PPGPL) group.
“This review was conducted based on the assessed most likely outcomes and risks associated with updated inputs and cash flows provided by PPGPL and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago,” the company said in its condensed interim financial statements for the six months ended June 30, 2025.
“This assessment resulted in the recognition of an impairment loss of TT$85.2 million and consequently a loss after tax of TT$35.8 million (2024: profit after tax of $46.7 million),” it added.
In April, the United States revoked the OFAC licences that allowed Trinidad and Tobago to pursue natural gas projects with Venezuela, specifically the Dragon field and the Cocuina-Manakin field.
The licences had allowed multinational energy giants Shell and BP, along with Trinidad’s state-owned National Gas Company (NCG), to develop offshore gas fields near the Venezuelan maritime border. The Dragon field alone holds an estimated 4 trillion cubic feet of gas, with first exports initially slated for 2026.
Trinidad had already begun paying over one million US dollars annually in taxes to Venezuela for the expected 20-year Dragon project. But the move by Washington, citing concerns over Venezuela’s failure to restore democratic norms and manage illegal migration, has effectively frozen the deal.
The Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago, in a statement following the revocation of the licences, said the importation of pipeline gas from Venezuela for processing and onward sales to international markets as either LNG or petrochemicals remains a significant economic opportunity for Trinidad and Tobago.
“ It is important that the government of Trinidad and Tobago continues to engage actively with both the government of the United States and Venezuela to find a mechanism to pursue this opportunity,” the Energy Chamber said then.
After she was sworn into office as the country’s new head of Government, Prime Minister Persad Bissessar gave the biggest hint that her administration, unlike the previous People’s National Movement (PNM) governments, would not be putting a lot of emphasis on the Dragon Field project with Venezuela.
She told reporters, “We will be foolish not to look elsewhere, and we should have started that search long ago; we should not have put everything into the 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 mentioned in her discussions with the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, shortly after taking office, that they did not discuss the Dragon gas project during their conversation about the energy sector.
In its financial statement, TTNGL, which was incorporated in 2013 by the NGS, enables the public to participate in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to own an equity interest in PPGPL. It benefited from its investment in PPGPL, which recorded an after-tax profit of US$19.3 million in the six months. TTNGL’s share of the PPGPL profit was TT$50.8 million.
In its statement, TTNGL said it has not been able to declare and pay dividends to its shareholders because of the issues relating to its impairment losses.
“TTNGL continues to explore the options available to remedy this, subject to requisite stakeholder and statutory approval.
The success of the Government’s continued commitments to further exploration and continued efforts to secure a new OFAC license has a direct impact on the prospects for additional gas volumes to PPGPL. Should these materialise, they can result in improvements in the financial performance of PPGPL and, consequently, TTNGL. We remain committed to updating shareholders on these matters,” it added.
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