TT-
Veneazuela: Key energy issues with Venezuela
remain unsolved
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
01 06 08
Trinidad and Tobago has an outstanding energy
issue it would like to resolve before the Government
explores any role it could play in the PetroCaribe
deal between Venezuela and 13 Caribbean Community
(Caricom) member states.
Although, a framework agreement signed by Prime
Minister Patrick Manning and Venezuela President
Hugo Chavez on March 20 last year, for the unitisation
of oil and gas resources located along the maritime
border between both countries, to date there has
been no finalised exploration agreement.
The Manning administration wants to take the framework
agreement to the next level but there has been
little movement in this direction, even as Chavez
has expressed his desire to see Trinidad and Tobago
play a role in PetroCaribe.
Energy Minister Conrad Enill spoke of the issue
in an interview with the Business Express on Chavez's
remarks about Trinidad and Tobago and PetroCaribe.
"We negotiated an agreement. President Chavez
was to come to Trinidad and this has not yet happened.
There are still some issues that have not as yet
summed up in the relationship and we are trying
to solve those," Enill said.
Chavez was supposed to travel to Trinidad and
Tobago last year to sign a finalised exploration
deal, but that trip is yet to take place.
Unitisation basically allows for the allocation
of oil or gas reserves located in an area separated
by borders.
The unitisation framework agreement was meant
to be first applied to the Loran/Manatee natural
gas field which is located on the maritime border
between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.
Enill's immediate predecessor in office, Dr Lenny
Saith, had said that the framework agreement was
to be the first to be established in the Americas
and one of eight that exists worldwide.
Saith
had said that once the treaty is signed "we
can begin to work on developing the first field
we are looking at which is the Loran/Manatee field
which is estimated to hold ten trillion cubic feet
of proven reserves of gas, 27 per cent of which
belongs to Trinidad and Tobago."
This equates to roughly 2.6 to 2.7 trillion cubic
feet of gas with the rest belonging to Venezuela.
Loran is located on the Venezuelan side of the
border while Manatee is located on the Trinidad
side.
Chavez made no mention of the unitisation agreement
when he made his remarks about a role for Trinidad
and Tobago in PetroCaribe during a summit on the
deal that took place in Cuba two weekends ago that
was attended by Trinidad and Tobago Ambassador
Yvonne Gittens-Joseph and a representative from
the Energy Ministry.
The PetroCaribe deal stipulates the Caricom states
that have agreed to it paying market prices for
Venezuelan oil but they could do so by paying a
portion up front and then finance the rest over
25 years at low interest rates.
Story
by Juhel Browne from
Trinidad Express
Trinidad
Express
Thursday,
January 3rd 2008
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