Petrocaribe
deal makes Venezuela energy leader
By
Julien Neaves
Trinidad Express
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
02 25 07
VENEZUELA has replaced Trinidad and Tobago as the
dominant energy supplier in the Caribbean following
the conclusion of the Petrocaribe agreement, says
Foreign Affairs Minister Arnold Piggott.
He
was reporting on the energy debate at the 18th Intercessional
Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government
of Caricom, which was held in St Vincent and the
Grenadines from February 12-14.
Under
the Petrocaribe programme, 14 Caribbean nations
will receive preferential terms to buy oil from
Venezuela.
He
also reported that on February 9, this country and
Venezuela concluded an agreement on the technical
level for the unitisation of cross-border hydrocarbon
resources. He said the draft must now be approved
by local Cabinet and Venezuelan Congress, but could
not provide a time frame for when the agreement
would come before Cabinet.
Piggott
added that if the agreement between the countries
is enforced, there should be some relief in terms
of energy supply and prices to Caricom states.
He
was speaking at a media conference at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Dundonald Street, Port of Spain,
on Wednesday.
Responding
to a question on the state of a Memorandum of Understanding
for this country to supply Jamaica with liquified
natural gas, Piggott said at present, supply was
not on stream and noted there has been dialogue
in the past two weeks between the respective Prime
Ministers informing Jamaica on this country's natural
gas supply constraints.
Speaking
on the single economy aspect of the Caribbean Single
Market and Economy, which is scheduled for 2008,
he said a number of mechanisms were put in place
to facilitate this, including this country's TT$100
million Caricom Trade Support programme and the
creation of the Regional Development Fund (RDF),
which will involve a total capital of some US$250
million over a four-year period and member states
contributing US$100 million of that figure.
He
announced that Trinidad and Tobago had agreed to
contribute US$67 million to the RDF. This figure,
based on a previously agreed upon formula, consists
of US$30 million from the Petroleum Stabilisation
Fund (PSF), which was started by this country in
2004 to assist Caribbean member states in the alleviation
of poverty, and US$37 million in assessed contribution.
Piggott
noted that under the PSF to date, a total of TT$420
million had been allocated to provision of grant
funding by his Government for quick disbursement
to other Caricom states.
Julien
Neaves, jneaves@trinidadexpress.com
Trinidad
Express
Friday, February 23rd 2007
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