By Prior Beharry
VENEZUELA can now be paid in US dollars for gas from the Dragon Gas Field.
This was revealed by Minister of Energy Stuart Young at a press conference on Tuesday.
He said, “I am pleased to tell the people of Trinidad and Tobago that today the United States government has issued through the Treasury OFAC (US Treasury Department Office for Foreign Assets Control) to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago an amendment to the licence that we had requested in the terms that we have requested.”
He said, “It allows the Government of Trinidad and Tobago working along with NGC and Shell to negotiate complete negotiations and all agreements that need to be done with the government of Venezuela and PDVSA (Petroles de Venezuela, SA) for the development and the production and export of that gas from the Dragon gas field into Trinidad and Tobago for us to develop it and for us to make payments in FIAT currency, as well as US dollars as well as Venezuelans Bolivars as well as via humanitarian measures which is what was envisaged initially.”
The field located in Venezuelan waters will be exploited after a licence was granted by OFAC in January 24, 2023. But that licence had stated that no cash payments were to be made to Venezuela.
The Dragon field is near to the Hibiscus Platform owned by Shell and NGC and that will be used to take the gas to shore in Trinidad.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley last month had described the Dragon Gas deal with Venezuela as “a huge diplomatic boulder that we have been pushing up a hill…”
He said, “The mechanism of payment is the main hurdle at this time. Trinidad and Tobago has had to work overtime in converting squares into circles. To do that, we have had to build relationships, find friends and talk to people to see our point of view.”
In a radio broadcast in February, Venezuela President Nicholas Maduro said, “They tell a country it has permission to negotiate with Venezuela, but it cannot pay in dollars or any form of cash. It must pay with food or products.”
He described the arrangement as a joke.
Maduro said, “It is a joke to sovereign countries. I call sovereign countries and governments in America and the Caribbean to denounce this colonial model. We do not accept it. We will go on our way.”
On Tuesday, Young said the licence will now run for two years until October 31, 2025. He said once exploration starts, it should take about two years to get the gas to shore.
The Dragon gas field holds up to 4.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
