DRAGON GAS IN DANGER

MARCO Rubio’s appointment as United States Secretary of State is likely to halt the much-anticipated Trinidad and Tobago-Venezuela natural gas exploration deal.

Rubio previously called for the United States to cut ties in the energy sector with the Venezuelan Government of dictator Nicolas Maduro.

He said: “Under no circumstances should we be funnelling money into the hands of dictators and narco-terrorists…”

Rubio had also accused T&T of helping Cuba to circumvent sanctions related to Venezuela by shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) through a third party.

He said in 2019 that that move was “an unnecessary irritant in our bilateral relationship.”

Rubio has charged that Maduro is running a narco-regime and violently suppressing peaceful protests, threatening neighbouring countries and hosting terrorists.

He stated that Maduro used energy earnings to consolidate power and ban opposition presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado.

He and Senate colleagues last year sought to prohibit the importation of Venezuelan oil and petroleum products into the US.

He recently co-sponsored a US Senate bill seeking to raise the reward to US $100 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest on drug trafficking charges.

As America’s top diplomat, Rubio is expected to put pressure on Maduro to demit office in favour of Edmundo Gonzalez.

Independent observers said Gonzalez won the June presidential election.

Maduro cracked down on political opponents, forcing Gonzales to flee Venezuela.

T&T stayed silent while several Caricom and Latin American countries spoke out on the tyrannical action.

The US State Department said Maduro “tampered with the results, falsely claimed victory and carried out widespread repression to maintain power.”

Rubio’s hard-line approach could derail monetising the vast gas reserves that straddle the maritime borders of T&T and Venezuela.

The Government of Dr. Keith Rowley signed an agreement for joint exploration of Dragon Gas by T&T’s National Gas Company and Venezuela’s PDVSA.

The Dragon Gas and nearby Manatee field have a reported 4.2 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves in the first phase.

The US, which previously imposed economic sanctions on Venezuela, granted a licence a year ago for the joint development of the offshore project.

The Rowley Government is paying Venezuela US $1 million a year in relevant taxes.

Rowley and Energy Minister Stuart Young have said that multinational Shell would begin exploration in 2027.

There are plans to utilise the gas to revive several mothballed downstream and LNG plants and export to Europe.

Subsea surveys have begun to technical data.

The Government hopes the gas project will rebuild the economy, which has declined to become the worst-performing among Caricom countries.

The tough Donald Trump administration is also expected to push for democratic reforms in Venezuela, partly to end the flow of illegal migrants.

Venezuelans are the second most common illegal migrants in the US, after Mexicans.

More than eight million of the country’s 28 million people have fled the economic hardship and tyranny under Maduro’s regime.

T&T has the largest per capita number of migrants, many of whom publicly beg for food or work low-end jobs.

With new economic and immigration policies expected from the incoming US authorities, the Dragon Gas is not expected to dance any time soon.