Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young has called for further negotiations with the US and Venezuela as TT looks to bring the Dragon gas deal to fruition.
Young delivered the keynote address, Pursuit of Energy Security and Sustainability
- a Caribbean Perspective, at the Energy International Summit of the Association of International Negotiators on June 1 in Miami, Florida.
He said, “TT has become a victim of the geopolitics surrounding our nearest neighbour (Venezuela) and unfortunately, we are experiencing the collateral damage from this.”
Young added, “With respect to TT’s access to the Dragon gas field, both the Prime Minister and myself spent significant time and energy last year meeting with the decision-makers in Washington, DC, negotiating and advocating for a grant of a waiver from Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) for TT to produce the Dragon gas field with our partner Shell. This included meeting with President Biden at the summit of the Americas, vice president Kamala Harris, congressmen and women on both sides (and) the leadership of the Departments of State, Energy, Agriculture and the Treasury.”
In January, OFAC granted TT a waiver and the government has since been pursuing negotiations with Venezuela over a licence to produce the Dragon gas field.
“With the support of other leaders of Caricom, we pursued the ability to access this gas field, as there is the immediate excess capacity in Trinidad for us to produce additional LNG, ammonia and fertiliser products and methanol, thereby contributing to energy security in the Caricom and wider region. We would be able to provide additional LNG supplies to Caricom countries and even Europe as it looks for alternatives to Russian gas," he said.
Young said TT is looking at deep water as the next frontier for gas exploration and production.
“Our shallow waters have been exploited for decades and are in decline. We are in active negotiations with Woodside on a project called Calypso which holds medium term future for TT's gas production."
Young added that the Ministry of Energy has been negotiating with bp and Shell as a joint consortium on other deepwater blocks and looks forward to the conclusion of those negotiations in the coming weeks.
"As a responsible hydrocarbon country, TT has also been undertaking several new energy projects with the aim of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions," he said.
Young said TT recently turned the
sod for the commencement of the construction of a solar project, in collaboration with bp and Shell, which will produce 112.2 MW of power, ten per of the country's power needs. The government is also exploring the use of wind turbines for power generation. These renewables projects would also feed into the recently Cabinet-approved construction of the first green hydrogen project, which will be done under the direction of the Ministry of Energy.
“TT is actively looking at carbon capture sequestration and utilisation to do our part in carbon reduction but also if done properly and in a public-private
