T&T will quickly engage Guyana on potential gas deal – new Energy Minister

…as new UNC Govt signals “death” of Dragonfield deal with Venezuela

The newly elected United National Congress (UNC) government in Trinidad and Tobago has, within days of being sworn in, signaled its intention to quickly engage Guyana on a potential gas deal, even as the Dragonfield deal that former Prime Minister Keith Rowley was trying to broker with Venezuela, lies in a smoldering heap.
In a recent interview after the swearing in ceremony, Energy and Energy Industries Minister, Dr Roodal Moonilal explained that engaging with Guyana on a potential gas deal that would benefit both countries, is a top priority for the UNC government.
“Even before the swearing in, the Guyanese government and the officials there have expressed interest in having arrangements and discussions with Trinidad and Tobago, pertaining to gas. And it is something that we will quickly engage the government and relevant officials in Guyana,” Moonilal said.
New T&T Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, had said earlier in the swearing in ceremony that Moonilal would be sent to engage Guyana, as well as Suriname and possibly Grenada, to discuss the details of a possible deal. She also made it emphatically clear to Trinidadian reporters that the Dragonfield gas deal is dead.
“That is dead. It is dead. They kept it alive for 10 years. And (they) couldn’t do that in 10 years. (We will look) right in CARICOM, as I mentioned, Grenada, Guyana, Suriname,” Persad-Bissessar said.
Trinidad and Tobago has been seeking collaboration with other countries when it comes to energy security. However, the former Keith Rowley People’s National Movement (PNM) government had gone as far as to ink a deal with Venezuela to explore for gas, despite Venezuela’s border controversy with Guyana and United States (US) sanctions.
The Dragon gas field project, was to be developed in Venezuelan waters, undertaken by Trinidad’s state firm National Gas Company (NGC) and SHELL. A 30-year license, issued in December 2023, had granted Shell and NGC the rights to produce the gas and export it to Trinidad.
However just last month, it was announced that the United States government had killed the project by revoking the licenses Trinidad and Tobago had been granted for the Dragon and Manakin-Cocuina cross-border gas fields.
The licenses had previously been issued under the then President Joe Biden administration, by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Since his return to office, US President Donald Trump has taken a more hardened line to Venezuela, amid the loss of democratic rights for the Venezuelan people by the Nicolas Maduro regime and breaches to agreements Venezuela had made to ensure free and fair elections last year.
Guyana and Suriname have meanwhile already been holding talks on the potential collaboration between the two neighboring countries to jointly develop their respective natural gas resources. President Dr Irfaan Ali has always touted a regional energy corridor as Guyana moves to monetize its gas resources, which will be an independent project from the model Gas-to-Energy (GtE) initiative that is currently under construction at Wales, West Bank Demerara.
The GtE project comprises a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility and a 300-megawatt power plant utilizing the rich natural gas from the Liza Fields in the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana. United States energy firm, Fulcrum LNG Inc., was selected to work in a tripartite arrangement with the Guyana Government and ExxonMobil to develop a potential gas project.
In the Stabroek Block, which United States oil major ExxonMobil and its co-venturers are operating, some 17 trillion cubic feet of gas has already been found with the Pluma and Haimara wells being proven gas fields. The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government is seeking to develop this gas.