Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young has begun official discussions with Venezuelan officials on the production of gas from the Dragon Field.
Minister Young posted Tuesday that he had led an official delegation from Trinidad and Tobago to commence negotiations with an official team of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in Caracas, Venezuela.
The Trinidad and Tobago team included the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, Pennelope Bradshaw Niles, President of NGC, Mark Loquan, Trinidad and Tobago’s Ambassador to Venezuela, Major General (Ret’d) Edmund Dillon and other members of the NGC Executive. Also present was Senior Vice President of Shell Trinidad and Tobago Eugene Okpere and other members of Shell.
Leading the team for PDVSA was its President Pedro Rafael Tellechea, who was supported by Vice Presidents of PDVSA and other key members of PDVSA.
“We executed a confidentiality agreement (Non Disclosure Agreement) which governs the negotiations between the parties and the exchange of information as we progress the technical and commercial aspects of the planned development,” Young said.
In January 2023, Trinidad and Tobago secured a two-year licence from the United States Government to commence the development of the long-stalled Dragon project.
The Dragon project was scheduled to start production over a decade ago. However, sanctions by the US administration, as well as lack of capital, delayed the production start of the field.
The licence allows Trinidad to undertake business related to the Dragon field with Venezuela’s heavily sanctioned state-run oil company PDVSA.
As per the estimates, the PDVSA-owned Dragon field has up to 4.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
