T&T, Venezuela meet on developing gas field

(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago has taken another step toward developing the Loran Manatee gas field with neighbour Venezuela.

The second meeting of the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) for the Unitisation of Cross Border Hydrocarbon Reservoirs between the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was held at the offices of the Ministry of Energy in Port of Spain on July 23 and 24.

The meeting involved delegations led by the co-chairperson from Venezuela, Angel González Saltron, Vice Minister of Hydrocarbons, People’s Ministry for Energy and Petroleum and his counterpart and co-chairperson from Trinidad and Tobago Selwyn Lashley, permanent secretary of the ministry, a statement from the ministry said last week.

Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine met with the committee before the start of the discussions and highlighted the importance of these meetings among the technical experts in facilitating the development and monetisation of gas fields in this region and the potential benefit to the Latin American and Caribbean communities.

In an e-mailed statement to the Sunday Express yesterday, he said: “On July 23 and 24 the Steering Committee to oversee cross border gas field development between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela met. The meeting came out of discussions between the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and the President of Venezuela at a bilateral meeting between both countries during the recently held Caricom Heads Summit in Port of Spain on July 6. Five days before I had met President Maduro in Moscow during the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. In my speech in Moscow I had called on Venezuela to partner with Trinidad and Tobago to develop the plataforma deltana natural gas reserves for the benefit of the peoples of Venezuela and T&T and to seed a Caribbean and Latin American natural gas market.”