Is Trinidad and Tobago dependent on gas supplies from Venezuela?
Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar SC has indicated that Trinidad and Tobago is not dependent on Venezuela for gas.
Historically, Trinidad and Tobago has negotiated several gas deals with the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, but to date none of these deals have resulted in gas from Venezuela reaching Trinidad and Tobago’s shores.
Trinidad and Tobago continues to rely entirely on its domestic gas reserves, such as the Manatee field, located on the Trinidadian side of the Venezuela/Trinidad and Tobago maritime border.
Shell reached a Final Investment Decision for Manatee in 2024, and the project remains on track for first gas in 2027.
According to Offshore Technology, there are 31 natural gas-producing fields in Trinidad and Tobago. These are all active fields: 25 are offshore and six are onshore.
Four companies account for roughly 95% of the country’s total natural gas output. They are bpTT, Shell, EOG Resources and Woodside Energy.
The planned Venezuela/Trinidad and Tobago projects, like the Dragon Gas Field and Manakin-Cocuina, have all required subsea pipelines that were never built before the deals were terminated.
Although a historic licence was granted in late 2023 to finally begin extraction, the deal was halted by United States sanctions and the withdrawal of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) licence before any gas could flow from Venezuela.
Originally, a 30-year production sharing agreement was signed in December 2023 for Shell and the National Gas Company to develop the Dragon Gas field in Venezuela’s territorial waters.
Despite the US issuing a renewed six-month OFAC licence in October 2025 to allow negotiations until April, Venezuela has indicated that it is not interested in negotiations with Trinidad and Tobago.
A 20-year agreement was signed for the Coucuina-Manakin project in August 2024 for joint exploration of this cross-border field, but that project was terminated.