T&T and Venezuela can meet region's energy needs together - Manning
Stabroek News
March 4, 2007
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning speaks to the media at the Guyana International Convention Centre yesterday after the XIX Rio Group Summit. (Photo by Jules Gibson)
Trinidadian Prime Minister Patrick Manning believes that the energy requirements of the region can be supplied by Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela together.
Under the PetroCaribe agreement Venezuela is providing oil on an extended credit arrangement to a number of Caribbean countries. Guyana too will be supplied with 50% of its oil needs under the same facility. Trinidad and Tobago has been the traditional supplier of energy to Caricom nations.
Asked by this newspaper to comment on PetroCaribe prior to his departure from Guyana yesterday after attending the 19th Rio Summit, Manning responded that he believed there was an opportunity to discuss and resolve the differences that existed between Venezuela and Trinidad on the way the agreement was implemented within the Caribbean.
He said that if Venezuelan crude were processed in the Point-a-Pierre refinery, which is the traditional supplier to the region, the traditional integrity of the system would be maintained. Trinidad would then still have access to all the Caribbean markets, and in this way would be able to guarantee them energy security.
"If we don't supply the region then we can't guarantee the security," Manning insisted. "There is the requirement for energy in the region that can be satisfied by Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela together," he said. The Trinidad prime minister also told this newspaper that the stage had been set for his country and its Spanish-speaking neighbour Venezuela to monetize the natural gas on both sides of their common maritime border.
He said he would be responding to an invitation by his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez to visit Venezuela on March 20, when he imagines that 'energy' will be at the top of the agenda.
Last week the two countries agreed to negotiate the specifics of the carving up of offshore gas reserves to avoid conflict over how much belonged to each side, a process known as the 'unification' of reserves. The two will share the large underground reservoir of natural gas that lies in the Plataforma Deltana region, an area which straddles Trinidad's maritime border with Venezuela. The agreement between the two countries came more than four years after talks on the matter had been initiated.
Manning told Stabroek News that he believed that the meeting had come at the most appropriate time since the negotiations on a monetization agreement for the production of gas had only recently been concluded. Last Thursday, he said, the accord had been ratified by the Trinidadian cabinet and so it was only left for the Venezuelan congress to do same.
"I don't know what time-frame they would set for doing that, but I believe that the stage is set for further discussions on how we can monetize the gas on both sides," Manning stated.
Commenting briefly on preparations for the Cricket World Cup games to be hosted by nine Caricom states, Manning said security preparations were moving apace. Manning is tasked with regional responsibility in this area and so is playing a crucial role for the CWC games.
"Security preparations for CWC 2007 are going quite well, and in fact of all the arrangements that have been made for World Cup Cricket, we think that the security arrangements will give us the most enduring legacy," he asserted.
He went on to say that the arrangements were complex and had taken a lot of time to put in place, but would significantly improve travel in the region, which he noted was one of the areas about which the region could be proud.
"The collaboration for example among the intelligence agencies on information exchange - it is a major advance and the advance of the information system and all of that… This is where the enduring legacy of Cricket World Cup would be; I am very pleased with the arrangements," he said.