Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young has slammed the Opposition for its critique of the Dragon Gas arrangement.
This follows the latest questions raised by Opposition MP David Lee.
Lee, during the UNC’s weekly press conference on Sunday, questioned the stability of the Dragon gas deal and warned about legal documents recently published by the Venezuelan government, which state that the 30-year exploration and production licence granted to T&T could be revoked if the United States imposes any sanctions against the Bolivarian Republic.
However, Young admitted that he could not guarantee that the arrangement would be unscathed by geopolitics.
Lee quoted from the document at the weekly media briefing at the party’s Chaguanas headquarters yesterday.
Published on January 29 under Venezuela’s Ministry of People’s Power of Petroleum, Section 66 states, “In the event that non-compliance with any of the licensees obligations, in fact, results from the imposition of the sanctions and economic blocks stipulated in article 64 of these General Conditions, the Ministry will grant an exceptional and single period of six (6) months, at the end of which this Licence will be considered terminated.”
According to Lee, the T&T Government has sought to excite the population with an agreement that is nowhere near fruition.
He recalled that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Licence, which was issued to T&T on October 17, 2023, was valid until October 31, 2025. However, despite the licence, which allows Shell, NGC and contractors to continue exploring, producing and exporting natural gas from the Venezuelan Dragon field, officials are still only in the planning stages.
“The Opposition is not against getting gas for this country but when this Government has placed all their eggs, as they say, in that Dragon gas deal to the detriment of not doing the proper incentivisation within our borders to continue aggressively developing our oil and gas sector within our own borders, that is the concern the Opposition has,” Lee said.
“The UNC’s continued bad-mouthing of the Dragon gas project and attacking of it, hoping that it will not be successful, should be carefully noted by the population. I cannot give any assurance as to matters that are wholly out of my control but I can reassure the population that we continue to be very engaged with the US government and the decision-makers in the US, as well as the government of Venezuela, and we have a two-year specific OFAC licence for the Dragon project, along with a 30-year exploration and production licence from Venezuela for the Dragon gas field.”
He added, “I can also give the assurance that we will continue to work assiduously to ensure a future energy sector for T&T, as opposed to what was done in the period of 2010-2015.”
He also said the Government had worked overtime to try to ensure a diverse energy future for T&T.
“I remind you that we have secured the production of the Manatee field, we have supported successful onshore gas production, completed successful onshore/nearshore bid rounds, awarded deepwater blocks and are negotiating the first deepwater gas production with Woodside (project Calypso) and worked with the upstream producers of gas to get infill drilling done and to chase and produce stranded pockets of gas. I list these as factual examples of the diversity of what we have done to ensure future gas supply.”
Young said Venezuelan cross-border gas was not the singular example of what the Government had done to secure future gas production.
Meanwhile, Lee again questioned how much was being spent by the state every month to mothball the now-defunct Petrotrin Refinery in Pointe-a-Pierre.
He challenged the claim by Guaracara Refining Company chairman Newman George, at a Public Accounts and Enterprises Committee on Thursday, that it cost TT$500,000 per month to preserve the refinery. Lee said he received information from someone who indicated that the figure should have been in US dollars.