The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has granted Trinidad and Tobago permission to pay Venezuela for gas from the Dragon gas field in US dollars, Venezuelan bolivares, fiat currency and humanitarian aid.

The licence allowing TT trade with Venezuela has also been extended to October 31, 2025.

Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young made the announcement at a media conference on Tuesday at the International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain.

“I am pleased to announce that today (Tuesday), the US government has issued, through the treasury department OFAC, to the government of TT, an amendment to the licence that we had requested in the terms that we have requested.

“The licence will now run for two years until October 31, 2025, which is more than enough time for us to get done what needs to get done.

“It also allows TT, working along with NGC and Shell, to negotiate, and complete negotiations and all agreements with the Venezuelan government and PDVSA for the development, production and export of that gas from the Dragon gas field in TT for us to develop it, and for us to make payments in fiat currency, as well as US dollars, as well as Bolivar, as well as via humanitarian measures, which is what was envisaged initially.”

Young said there are no restrictions on the amount of US dollars which could be used to pay Venezuela.

He noted that the agreement signed with Venezuela in September, in addition to continued negotiations for the development of the Dragon field, also permitted continued discussions with the Venezuelan government for other gas fields and other gas developments.

“It also got down to granular level detail with respect to the allocation of gas and for all of the gas from Dragon to come to TT and the allocation of that gas both to our domestic petrochemical sector as well as the LNG sector, for Shell to continue to be our operator and our partner in these arrangements.”

Young said the OFAC licence is now a full green light for the government to do what needs to be done.

He said there have been several virtual meetings with the Venezuelan government and PDVSA “as we now get into the granular level of detail for the pricing of the development of the gas from Dragon.

“Very shortly, I will lead a team back to Venezuela, where I hope for us to finalise those arrangements.

“Not only are we negotiating the commercial terms, the pricing of the gas in Venezuela, the allocation and the other things associated with the commercial terms, we are also negotiating the technical terms, working out with the engineers, particularly those at Shell, how quickly we can develop the Dragon gas field to bring this gas to TT.”

He confirmed that Shell will operate the Dragon field and that gas will be brought to the existing Hibiscus platform for onward transmission to plants in Trinidad.

Young said if all green lights were in place, production could be done in less than two years.

He said the PM, who had left the country for Canada early Tuesday morning, had been apprised of