WASHINGTON, CMC – The United States has announced support for the Trinidad and Tobago government’s Dragon gas proposal, with Venezuela saying it will take “steps to ensure it will not provide significant benefit to the Maduro regime”.
The announcement comes less than five months after the Kamla Persad Bissessar government, which came to office in Port of Spain on April 28, indicated that the gas deal was “dead” after it had campaigned heavily against the proposal that had been initiated by the former People’s National Movement (PNM) administration.
“…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,” Persad Bissessar said then, adding “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.
In a statement issued following talks between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Prime Minister Persad Bissessar on Tuesday, the State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, said that Rubio had “acknowledged the importance of energy security to Trinidad and Tobago’s economic prosperity and regional stability.
“He outlined US support for the government’s Dragon gas proposal and steps to ensure it will not provide significant benefit to the Maduro regime,” emphasising the deepening relations between Port of Spain and Washington.
In a brief statement following the meeting with Rubio, the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister said, “We had some critical discussions for bilateral interests, and more will be discussed later.
“We have some good news that we will share with you later. We head back now to New York City, and we look forward to meeting you at home,” she added.
In April, the United States government revoked the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) license granted to Trinidad and Tobago, allowing 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 had 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.
Former prime minister, Stuart Young, who was also the minister of energy and energy industries in the previous two PNM administrations, said in a statement posted on his Facebook page that the announcement from Rubio with respect to Trinidad and Tobago is “consistent with what he told me when I was Prime Minister.
“Amazingly, one of the first announcements of Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar after she was sworn in was that Dragon was dead and that her government would be pursuing gas in Grenada, Guyana, and Suriname. Now, in a not surprising complete about turn, the (ruling) UNC (United National Congress) is pursuing Venezuelan Dragon gas.”
Young said that the “success of cross-border gas depends on many factors, including, very critically, multilateral respect and diplomacy as the gas is owned by another state,” adding “time is longer than twine”.
Pigott, in his statement, said that the meeting had also discussed the strong US-Trinidad and Tobago partnership, particularly in regional security and counternarcotics cooperation. Rubio commended Trinidad and Tobago’s steps to counter transnational criminal organizations and curb illicit narcotics and firearms trafficking.
“The leaders also discussed efforts to restore stability in Haiti, including through support for the UN Security Council resolution authorizing a UN Support Office for Haiti and Gang Suppression Force.”
and then 