Trinidad and Tobago (TT) expects gas to start flowing from the Dragon field project in two years, once all goes well in negotiations with Venezuela, its Energy Minister, Stuart Young has said.
Young, according to Reuters, is due back in Caracas for a third time as talks advance between Venezuela’s Energy Minister Tareck El Aissami and Pedro Rafael Tellechea, President of the state-run oil company PDVSA.
The deal has been a long time in the making.
In 2018, the initial agreement to import natural gas from the offshore Dragon field was made between TT’s National Gas Company (NGC), Shell and the PDVSA. But deteriorating conditions in Venezuela obstructed the deal.
Last month, the US paved the way for the deal to go off without a hitch; the Dragon gas field is in Venezuelan waters and could see TT gaining access to 350 million cubic feet of gas per day (mcf/d) – an amount that could give its natural gas production a considerable boost. Dragon holds 4.2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas discovered on the Venezuela side of the maritime border by PDVSA.
But the arrangement is special. Per the agreed-upon conditions, Venezuela will be receiving no cash from the two-year deal. The benefits to Venezuela will be discussed during the negotiations.
