A recent comment from Trinidad and Tobago’s (T&T) Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley, on the status of the $US1 billion Dragon Deal between the twin-island Republic and Venezuela – an agreement under which T&T is supposed to develop the field estimated to have the capacity to produce approximately 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day – has set political tongues wagging in Port-of-Spain regarding the lengthy delay in the commencement of the project. While both Port of Spain and Caracas are eyeing the start of the project as a precursor to the flow of new, lucrative revenue streams for both countries, Washington, with its sanctions against inflows of revenue from Venezuela’s energy sector into the country’s coffers still in effect, remains the proverbial fly in the ointment. While the US has green-lighted the recovery of gas from the Dragon Field it refuses to agree to have earnings from the project accrue to the Maduro administration.
