Govt
reviewing oil, gas contracts
By Juhel Browne
Trinidad Express
Caracas
Petroleumworldtt.com
05 06 07
Production sharing contracts (PSCs) that govern
the exploration of oil and natural gas in Trinidad
and Tobago are now being reviewed by the Government.
Minister in the Finance Ministry, Conrad Enill,
made the disclosure yesterday, just five days after
Energy Minister Dr Lenny Saith said there were
major energy sector players that said the PSCs
may need to be reviewed with regard to the exploration
of deep water blocks.
Speaking
on the issue yesterday, Enill said, "What
we are basically saying is that we need exploration
activity and if people are saying the risk involved
is high, then we need to sit down and determine
how do we share that risk."
He
said the PSCs are now forming "part of
the subject" of ongoing discussions.
Saith had said the PSC was one of the issues raised
as the Energy Ministry sought the views of exploration
companies over the last competitive bid round for
eight deep water blocks, that saw only one tender
being offered by Norweigan-based Statoil ASA.
Enill
said yesterday that the ministry has a small
technical team that deals with the PSCs and it "goes
out and meets with an international consultant" to
iron out any issues.
According to the Energy Ministry's website, a
production sharing contract (PSC) is an agreement
between a contractor and a host government, whereby
the contractor bears all exploration risks, development
and production costs in return for a stipulated
share of the production resulting from this effort.
Trinidad
Express
Tuesday, May 1st 2007
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