OAS
Secretary General okays PetroCaribe
By Juhel Browne
Trinidad Express
Bridgetown
Petroleumworldtt.com
07 08 07
Organisation of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza sees
nothing wrong with the PetroCaribe oil deal, which had caused some tension
between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
He made the comment when asked if the OAS saw
any issues of concern with PetroCaribe, which involves
Venezuela providing oil to 12 Caribbean Community
member states under prescribed conditions.
Trinidad and Tobago, a member of Caricom, has
traditionally been the supplier of oil and oil
products to the rest of the 15 member regional
trading block.
All the Caricom member states also comprise the
single largest block of members in the OAS.
"We encourage activities by countries that
have access to a lot of the resources to sign agreements
and develop understandings to share energy with
others. So we are favourbale to the agreement of
PetroCaribe," Insulza said during a news conference
at the Hilton Barbados hotel, where the 28th Meeting
of the Caricom Heads of Government Conference is
being held.
Insulza noted that there were few energy suppliers
in the entire OAS which had a high demand.
Using the example of natural gas, he said there
are only three major suppliers-Trinidad and Tobago,
Venezuela and Peru.
He acknowledged Trinidad and Tobago had played
an important role with regard to energy supply
within Caricom and expects this will continue to
be the case.
"But that does not mean that others cannot
help and improve the capacity of other countries
in the Caribbean," Insulza said.
PetroCaribe stipulates that the Caricom states
signing on would pay market prices for Venezuelan
oil, but they could do so by paying a portion up
front and then financing the rest over 25 years
at low interest rates.
PetroCaribe also includes a fund initially capitalised
by Venezuela at US$50 million.
Trinidad
Express
Tuesday, July 3rd 2007
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