Prime Minister Stuart Young is condemning comments that all is lost due to the revocation of the OFAC licence from the United States.
Speaking to the business community on Wednesday, he pointed out that there is significant growth in the energy sector.
“Despite what you’re hearing, all of our eggs of Trinidad and Tobago are not in the Dragon basket.”
At a conference held by the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association, Prime Minister Young quickly responded to comments that T&T’s energy future is solely dependent on the Dragon gas deal.
Addressing the business community, he said he was disappointed that some had been rejoicing that the licence granted to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to pursue the monetisation of cross-border gas with Venezuela had been revoked.
“I’m just going to say very briefly here this morning that despite how unfortunately you see the media headlines and despite how, unfortunately, it shocks me still that there are actually people who call themselves citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, and they believe in Trinidad and Tobago is what they say, to see people rejoicing at another setback on what we did with Dragon.”
Despite the setback, Prime Minister Young said he was engaged with US policymakers in Washington, even after he made the announcement on Tuesday.
“Without breaching confidentiality, I was engaged in the conversation with the policymakers in Washington, and that is the type of leadership that is necessary and needed, and it will unfold. The point is, within a matter of hours, we had the opportunity, only because of the relationships and the reputation that we have, that we were engaged immediately with those who are making the policy decisions.”
He mentioned, though, that despite the revocation of the OFAC licence, which affects both the Dragon Gas Deal and Cocuina-Manakin projects, T&T still has major projects in the pipeline.
“You need to speak to your friends in the energy sector, and you will see the growth of domestic projects and the production of gas over the last few years. Just in the last couple weeks, you’ve had the largest producer, bp, FID projects, and also announced significant success in other projects, all of which are the direct result of your Government’s leadership.”
In addition to this, the Prime Minister noted that other energy companies have been making strides.
“You have the same thing going on with EOG. The Mento platform will produce gas shortly in joint venture with bp. They have announced, bp and EOG, the next one, Coconut. You have Perenco, that has recently purchased some of bp’s aged assets, and then come and purchased some of Woodside’s aged assets. You’ve seen that Perenco will do what they can with the stranded gas and produce more.”
He also announced that CARICOM will meet on Friday to discuss the recent tariffs imposed by the United States.