DAVID LEE

LAST WEEK Monday the US House of Representatives, through bipartisan efforts, passed a bill called the Banning Operations and Leases with Illegitimate Venezuelan Authoritarian Regime (BOLIVAR) Act, which is a geopolitical watershed moment on the global stage as it prohibits the US government from contracting with any person that has business operations with what the bill terms to be “the illegitimate government of Nicolas Maduro, as well as any successor government of Venezuela not recognised as legitimate by the United States.”

While the Minister of Energy has recently said that this government is lobbying both Democratic and Republican politicians to protect the Dragon deal, this recent legislative measure being considered in the US Congress means that Dragon's survival will need more than a visit to Washington by the minister.

The BOLIVAR Act, which is now before the Senate, presents some critical questions to the TT government, the most important being: “How does this legislation affect the Dragon Gas deal?” As a matter of fact, the bill categorically states “the head of an executive agency may not enter into a contract or procurement with any person who has been determined to be engaged in significant business operations with an authority of the government of Venezuela that is not recognised by the United States.”

There is no doubt that this legislation poses far-reaching considerations, decisions and consequences for TT, with the US being our major trading partner and with this government pinning all its hopes on the Dragon deal. While the legislation offers an exception for entities operating under an OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) licence, our OFAC licence is set to expire in October 2025.

This rings alarm bells for us as a nation, as even before this legislation was before the US Congress there have been reports of Shell seeking a longer OFAC licence to make their final investment decision.

Three weeks ago the Minister of Energy confirmed that Shell is yet to make a final investment decision on the Dragon deal. So, can we be confident that they will make a decision to invest billions of US dollars in this project with the Bolivar Act now in place?

This government has persistently chastised the opposition’s calls for evaluating the forecasts for the Dragon deal against the unstable geopolitical environment as unpatriotic, but this is not about patriotism. It is about realism, it is about being honest to our citizens, to international agencies, and honest when planning ahead to ascertain if the Dragon deal will really deliver the “boom” the government promised.

We have always said there is a national danger in placing too much focus on cross-border gas while ignoring the incentives needed to monetise our own fields. Will the BOLIVAR be the tipping point of Dragon?

David Lee is the MP for Pointe-a-Pierre and the Opposition Chief Whip

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