PETER CHRISTOPHER
Senior Reporter
peter.christopher@guardian.co.tt
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department at US Treasury has granted Trinidad and Tobago a licence to explore a natural gas field that straddles the maritime border between T&T and Venezuela.
At a news conference yesterday, Energy Minister Stuart Young said the Government received the licence to begin work in the Cocuina-Manakin hydrocarbon field on Tuesday. The field is located off south-east coast of Trinidad.
"Trinidad and Tobago has received a specific licence from the United States Government OFAC for the pursuit of exploration, production and export of gas from the Cocuina-Manakin field to Trinidad and Tobago and the terms are similar to Dragon, so we can pay in fiat currency or US currency etc. In other words, they have given us the go ahead. Importantly, the licence is for two years and expires on the 31st of May 2026," said Young, at the Ministry's offices at Tower D of the Port of Spain Waterfront.
Young said the news was contrary to a narrative being spun by several "nay-sayers" who were intent on painting a negative outlook for the energy sector.
"We are now found ourselves with another opportunity with more eggs in another basket for the people of Trinidad and Tobago. These will not manifest themselves overnight. As we've learnt in the energy sector, it will take time. We have already set the precedent.
"So I expect the teams to immediately continue our engagement, we at the Ministry of Energy never stopped. So when I see people writing these stories with only doom and gloom that BP is out of Cocuina-Manakin and will go nowhere. It is very difficult at times not to respond but one must often keep a still tongue," said Young.
This is the second such licence T&T has received from OFAC following the issuance of a similar permission in January 2023 to allow for work in Dragon Gas field.
Young could not give a definitive answer as to when production would begin in the Dragon Gas field, but he did state that Shell should have an announcement concerning the Loran/Manatee field soon.
"Everything that has to be negotiated has been completed. That will be significant for production. You marry that with Dragon which they're running a competition to see which can be brought in first by Shell between Manatee and Dragon. Hopefully both will come in around the same time. That is going to boost our production," said Young.
He said natural gas production levels were not high currently, but should rebound in the next two or three years.
He said," I've said continuously, we don't hide it. Production is going to be a struggle. We're in that period right now.We're about 2.6 2.7 BCF of gas a day but it is going to go up with all of these (fields) from 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030."