By Curtis Williams
PORT OF SPAIN, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Trinidad and Tobago plans to start formal negotiations with Venezuela in March over the development of a promising offshore natural gas project, the energy minister said on Thursday. of the Caribbean nation.
A deal would help both Venezuela and Trinidad boost gas production, which contributes much of their export earnings and remains below capacity. The joint venture is expected to supply gas to Trinidad’s liquefied natural gas and petrochemical industry.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Energy, Stuart Young, has traveled to Caracas twice to set up negotiations since the United States issued a license in January allowing the two nations to reactivate the Dragon gas field, located on the Venezuelan side of the maritime border with Trinity. The project has been dormant for over a decade.
Young is assisted by a technical team, he told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference in Port of Spain. The Minister met Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami during his last trip to Caracas.
Trinidad hopes to speed up talks on the terms of the partnership, which is also expected to involve Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA and Anglo-Dutch Shell, which produces gas in Trinidad.
Among the first documents expected to be signed with Venezuela are confidentiality agreements to protect information shared by parties, the minister said.
Progress made between the two countries since signing a package of agreements in 2018 would enable the next phases to be completed quickly, ensuring the first gas imports “in a relatively short time”, Young said.
He also said he planned to meet with US officials in Houston next month to discuss the license and the gas project, following an earlier round of talks in the Bahamas with the US government.
Venezuela has been under a series of oil sanctions imposed by the United States since 2019. (Reporting by Curtis Williams. Writing by Marianna Parraga)