“The Dragon Gas Deal has come alive.”
The words of Attorney General John Jeremie SC, as he announced on Thursday that Trinidad and Tobago has been granted an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) licence by the US Department of the Treasury.
“I am pleased to announce that the Department of the Treasury of the United States has granted the OFAC licence that was applied for by this government and the National Gas Company to pursue the exploration of the Dragon gas field.”
The Attorney General said the licence now allows the government and the National Gas Company (NGC) to enter into negotiations with Venezuela and other parties.
“The effect of the grant of this licence is to permit the government and the NGC to engage in negotiations with the government of Venezuela and other stakeholders to advance the Dragon Gas Project without breaching sanctions imposed by the United States government and US law.”
AG Jeremie said this time around, the US has decided to take a tiered approach. He said at present, T&T is in the negotiation stage, in which they have six months to finalise a deal with Venezuela.
“This first approach, we go to April of 2026 with certain benchmarks in place so that it’s not the entire Dragon gas project, which is licensed. It would be steps towards the exploitation of the gas.”
The AG said the government is confident that negotiations will be fruitful, despite the recent events that took place between Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, and Venezuela.
“We might not have sat around a table. No one has gone to Caracas to answer the question that your colleague from another media house asked a while ago, but that does not mean to say that there has been radio silence between Trinidad and Venezuela.”
AG Jeremie noted that the government has already begun to take the permitted steps to advance the project.