PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC—The United States government Tuesday 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.
Prime Minister Stuart Young told a news conference that he had received communication from the relevant US authorities on the issue and that Port of Spain had been given a winding down period until May 27 this year.
“What I can tell Trinidad and Tobago is that we have now been informed that our license from OFAC, which is dated 18th December 2023, has been revoked by OFAC and the Cocuina-Manakin license.
“But I can tell Trinidad and Tobago, I have few details. I have been in touch with our attorneys at law in Washington, DC. I won’t say there is a process for appeal of this revocation, but there is a process for you to apply for it not to be or for amendments.
“We are going to be engaging in that process on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago,” Young said, adding that he had also “reached out” to the US Special Envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mauricio Claver-Carone, and put in a request for a telephone conversation with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “all of which I expect us to have the opportunity for me once again on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago to present our case.”
Young reiterated during the news conference the position he had outlined in February this year: Trinidad and Tobago would continue to advocate what is best for the country and the wider Caribbean Community (CARICOM) after the United States announced a new directive that eliminates oil and gas licenses for foreign companies in Venezuela.
In a message posted on X, Rubio said he is “providing guidance” to end State Department support for licenses approved under former President Joe Biden.
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.
In 2023, the US amended the license to permit payments to Venezuela and its state company, PDVSA, in hard currency or kind, extending its expiration to October 2025. Shell and NGC require an extension to begin production following their final investment decision (FID), which is expected this year.
Young, who held talks with Rubio in Jamaica late last month and said he had been assured that Washington would do nothing to harm Trinidad and Tobago’s economic interests, told reporters that revoking the OPFAC license was not unexpected, given that the Donald Trump administration had decided to rescind the OFAC license granted to US oil giant Chevron.
“This has not come necessarily as a surprise, seeing how volatile things are, not only with policy concerning Venezuela but what we are seeing, for example, with the application of tariffs,” Young said.
He said that while he is not in a position to tell the country “much more than what I have said right now, what I can say based on the personal conversation and discussions I have managed to have with the two gentlemen (Rubio and Claver-Carone) as well as some others we are pursuing, I expect we will be given an audience. I hope we will be allowed to continue to make our case.
“I am, to be honest, not surprised by the outcome because they did explain to me the US policy and what they are trying to achieve concerning Venezuela and with the words that they would not harm Trinidad and Tobago, and I have no reason to doubt it whatsoever…..
“This is not the first time, if I may put it, a hurdle put in our way of access,” Young said, adding that Trinidad and Tobago has been going forward with other aspects of the project, such as the manatee field and what can happen there if “we had any delay on Dragon.”
In November 2021, Trinidad and Tobago signed an agreement with Shell to develop a large natural gas field at a cost of more than one billion US dollars.
The Manatee production-sharing contract with Shell Trinidad and Tobago Limited and Shell Trinidad and Tobago Resources SRL covers the shallow-water field with a surface area of 48.35 square kilometers and straddles the maritime boundary of Trinidad and Venezuela.
The Manatee field formed part of the Loran-Manatee cross-border field, with Loran located in the marine area of Venezuela. The Loran-Manatee reservoir has an estimated resource of 10.04 trillion cubic feet, of which 2.712tcf is within the Manatee field.
Trinidad and Tobago pursued the alternative arrangement in the face of the United States sanctions against Venezuela, which have hobbled cross-border transactions and commercial arrangements for the South American country and paused activity around the gas development.
“We are looking at what can be done in the field of Manatee,” Young said.
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