The licence granted to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States to pursue the monetisation of cross-border gas with Venezuela has been revoked.
Prime Minister Stuart Young made the announcement at a Media Conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“We have now been informed that our licence from OFAC, which is dated the 18th of December 2023, has been revoked by OFAC, and that licence is now revoked by OFAC as well as our Cocuina Manekin licence. It came a little while after the others. What I can tell Trinidad and Tobago is that I don’t have more details on that.”
The Prime Minister assured that the Government’s legal team is already working towards a solution. He explained that there is a grace period before the revocation of the licence goes into effect.
“There is a wind-down period, so this is not immediate. When OFAC does this, you will see, even when they had done it with Chevron, all of them, they grant you a wind-down period. So the wind-down period for this is until the 27th of May, and that allows you an opportunity before it kicks in fully for you to engage with the United States, which is what we are doing.”
The Prime Minister was more or less prepared for the outcome following his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jamaica in March.
“I am, to be honest, not surprised by the outcome because they did explain to me the US policy and what they were trying to achieve with respect to Venezuela, but the words that they would not harm Trinidad and Tobago, I believe, I have no reason to doubt it whatsoever, remain in play.”
The Prime Minister maintains that the development is not at all a failure on the part of the Government.
“I stood here for the two last Post Cabinet Press Conferences and told you about the success for example that bp is turning on production so we have been doing exactly what needs to be done. So don’t buy the narrative of those who try to say all of the eggs are in the Dragon basket, it’s the complete opposite. So you’ve seen and if you ask the people in the energy industry in Trinidad and Tobago, you’ve seen that rise in activity that has kept us stable at 2.6 bcf a day of production.”
Prime Minister Young says the Government will continue to pursue the realisation of cross-border gas deals with Venezuela, not for today, but for the future of Trinidad and Tobago.