PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC—The USA authorities Tuesday revoked the Workplace of Overseas Property Management (OFAC) license granted to Trinidad and Tobago to permit Shell, the Nationwide Fuel Firm (NGC), and contractors to discover, produce, and export pure fuel from the Venezuelan Dragon Fuel Subject.
The license was legitimate till October 31, 2025, and enabled Trinidad and Tobago to pay for fuel in numerous currencies and thru humanitarian measures. On December 21, 2023, Trinidad and Tobago additionally secured a 30-year exploration and manufacturing license from the federal government of Venezuela for the Dragon fuel area.
Washington has additionally revoked the Cocuina-Manakin license granted to Port of Spain on Might 31, 2024.
Prime Minister Stuart Younger instructed a information convention that he had acquired communication from the related US authorities on the difficulty and that Port of Spain had been given a winding down interval till Might 27 this 12 months.
“What I can inform Trinidad and Tobago is that we’ve now been knowledgeable that our license from OFAC, which is dated 18th December 2023, has been revoked by OFAC and the Cocuina-Manakin license.
“However I can inform Trinidad and Tobago, I’ve few particulars. I’ve been in contact with our attorneys at regulation in Washington, DC. I gained’t say there’s a course of for enchantment of this revocation, however there’s a course of so that you can apply for it to not be or for amendments.
“We’re going to be participating in that course of on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago,” Younger mentioned, including that he had additionally “reached out” to the US Particular Envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mauricio Claver-Carone, and put in a request for a phone dialog with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “all of which I anticipate us to have the chance for me as soon as once more on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago to current our case.”
Younger reiterated in the course of the information convention the place he had outlined in February this 12 months: Trinidad and Tobago would proceed to advocate what’s finest for the nation and the broader Caribbean Group (CARICOM) after the USA introduced a brand new directive that eliminates oil and fuel licenses for international firms in Venezuela.
In a message posted on X, Rubio mentioned he’s “offering steering” to finish State Division help for licenses authorized underneath former President Joe Biden.
Port of Spain had been planning to request an extension from Washington for a license granted to Shell and the NGC to develop the Dragon fuel undertaking in Venezuela.
The license, issued in early 2023, permits the businesses to plan the undertaking. The undertaking goals to produce fuel to Trinidad by 2027. The Dragon Subject is positioned in Venezuelan waters close to the maritime border with Trinidad.
In 2023, the US amended the license to allow funds to Venezuela and its state firm, PDVSA, in laborious foreign money or sort, extending its expiration to October 2025. Shell and NGC require an extension to start manufacturing following their last funding resolution (FID), which is predicted this 12 months.
Younger, who held talks with Rubio in Jamaica late final month and mentioned he had been assured that Washington would do nothing to hurt Trinidad and Tobago’s financial pursuits, instructed reporters that revoking the OPFAC license was not sudden, provided that the Donald Trump administration had determined to rescind the OFAC license granted to US oil large Chevron.
“This has not come essentially as a shock, seeing how unstable issues are, not solely with coverage regarding Venezuela however what we’re seeing, for instance, with the applying of tariffs,” Younger mentioned.
He mentioned that whereas he isn’t ready to inform the nation “far more than what I’ve mentioned proper now, what I can say based mostly on the private dialog and discussions I’ve managed to have with the 2 gents (Rubio and Claver-Carone) in addition to some others we’re pursuing, I anticipate we shall be given an viewers. I hope we shall be allowed to proceed to make our case.
“I’m, to be trustworthy, not stunned by the end result as a result of they did clarify to me the US coverage and what they’re attempting to attain regarding Venezuela and with the phrases that they might not hurt Trinidad and Tobago, and I’ve no purpose to doubt it in any way…..
“This isn’t the primary time, if I’ll put it, a hurdle put in our means of entry,” Younger mentioned, including that Trinidad and Tobago has been going ahead with different points of the undertaking, such because the manatee area and what can occur there if “we had any delay on Dragon.”
In November 2021, Trinidad and Tobago signed an settlement with Shell to develop a big pure fuel area at a price of multiple billion US {dollars}.
The Manatee production-sharing contract with Shell Trinidad and Tobago Restricted and Shell Trinidad and Tobago Assets SRL covers the shallow-water area with a floor space of 48.35 sq. kilometers and straddles the maritime boundary of Trinidad and Venezuela.
The Manatee area shaped a part of the Loran-Manatee cross-border area, with Loran positioned within the marine space of Venezuela. The Loran-Manatee reservoir has an estimated useful resource of 10.04 trillion cubic ft, of which 2.712tcf is throughout the Manatee area.
Trinidad and Tobago pursued the choice association within the face of the USA sanctions in opposition to Venezuela, which have hobbled cross-border transactions and industrial preparations for the South American nation and paused exercise across the fuel growth.
“We’re taking a look at what will be accomplished within the area of Manatee,” Younger mentioned.
