Moonilal: Trinidad and Tobago's interest will be served

News Mya Quamie 4 Hrs Ago

Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Dr Roodal Moonilal at the post-Cabinet media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's on January 8. - Lincoln Holder

ENERGY MINISTER Dr Roodal Moonilal said TT’s energy sector still remains optimistic despite recent developments in Venezuela.

After the January 3 capture of President Nicolas Maduro, the US government has intercepted a number of oil tankers amid its crude export blockade.

Although Moonilal acknowledged that the developments are of great concern, he said the OFAC licence related to the Dragon Gas project remains in place. This is despite the then Maduro-led Venezuelan government’s termination of all energy arrangements with TT in December, something that Moonilal said the government received no formal notification of.

Speaking at the post-Cabinet media briefing on January 8 he said work has continued along the lines of the field and other cross-border projects.

“We are very confident that TT’s interest will be served in terms of the cross-border projects…all the stakeholders involved in those projects continue to be engaged with the relevant representatives in Venezuela…our arrangements that were in place prior to December involving the cross-border and across-the-border gas fields, those arrangements continue and the stakeholders continue work.”

He said despite the concern, TT has not lost or gained any money as a result of recent developments and has had little commercial relation in the energy sector with Venezuela aside from some agreements.

“But Venezuela is not the be-all and end-all of this business. We have serious developments taking place in other Caricom territories and we're working closely with those partners. We are now looking at partnerships outside of the region, particularly South America, Europe and Asia.”

Moonilal also announced Cabinet approval for the implementation of an energy oversight committee called the Energy Accelerator Hub.

He said this is intended to speed up all energy processes, which currently require collaboration between 16 government agencies across six ministries for one project to get up and running.

When distributing the certificate of environmental clearance to being seismic surveys of Block TT Ultra Deep 1 on December 30, Moonilal said the slow speed of energy and other processes costs the government around US$120 million ($815 million) annually.

“Not a day goes without a request from our international partners and our local companies for some help as far as it relates to fast-tracking and we have been able to do this. That is why over the last eight months or so we have shown remarkable progress in several projects."

Housed within the ministry, Moonilal said the committee will include the chairman of the Environmental Management Authority, the work permit committee, the OSHA chairman, the controller of customs, the Chief Immigration Officer and a representative from the office of the Attorney General.