The island nation of Trinidad and Tobago is aiming to take a “significant step forward” in gathering Venezuelan natural gas to support domestic demand and LNG exports after the United States granted an amended license, according to Energy Minister Stuart Young.
In a press conference late Tuesday, Young said he expects to complete negotiations with Venezuela to buy natural gas from the offshore Dragon field after the U.S. Treasury Department agreed to allow development partners to make payments in both hard currency and humanitarian contributions.
Young said the ministry plans to continue meetings with Shell plc, Trinidad’s state-owned National Gas Co. and the government of Venezuela to “get into the granular level of detail” for pricing Dragon field gas.
“Very shortly, I will lead a team back to Venezuela to finalize those arrangements,” Young added.
While the ministry is still coordinating with Shell’s engineers and procuring further regulatory approvals, Young said gas could potentially be introduced to Shell’s Hibiscus offshore platform in less than two years once “given all the green lights.”
The United States initially granted Trinidad a development license earlier in the year. However, Young said limitations on the kind of payments countries are allowed to make to Venezuela stymied negotiations. In May, Trinidad formally asked U.S. officials to change license terms.
The amendment also extends Trinidad’s development license to Oct. 31, 2025.
The Dragon field is roughly 11 miles offshore Trinidad. Venezuela’s state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela has reported reserves of 4.2 Tcf have been found in Dragon since development started more than a decade ago. Ongoing geopolitical issues and sanctions against Venezuela have prevented capital partners from joining the project.
Earlier in the week, various media outlets reported that Venezuela and the United States may be negotiating a deal for possible sanctions relief in exchange for Venezuela adopting electoral reforms.
Trinidad has been searching for available resources to supplement its maturing gas fields as production and liquefied natural gas exports from Atlantic LNG gradually fall. One of Atlantic LNG’s trains at the 15 million metric tons/year (mmty) site has been idle since 2020 because of insufficient feed gas supply.
The closure has caused Trinidad’s LNG exports to decline, falling from 12.7 million tons (Mt) in 2019 to an all-time low of 6.3 Mt in 2021, according to data from Kpler. Exports jumped slightly last year to 7.9 Mt as Europe’s energy crisis spiked global prices for available LNG volumes.
The Caribbean nation is a global supplier of LNG and delivers several cargoes a year to New England, especially during periods of high winter demand. Only two countries in the region, Peru and Trinidad, currently export LNG.
