00:00As the House of Representatives continued its mid-year review of the 2025 budget on Monday,
00:07Energy Minister Dr. Rudal Munilal made a major energy policy announcement
00:11as he made reference to the pursuit of the supply of natural gas
00:16from Venezuela to Trinidad and Tobago by the former PNM administration.
00:21We warned the former administration not to put all your eggs in one basket.
00:25The basket fell. The United States government cancelled two licenses
00:31for the mannequin coquina and for the dragon field.
00:35The UNC didn't cancel that. We are now working with all international partners
00:40to ensure that those matters can be resolved in a way that will benefit the CARICOM territories,
00:48the United States, be consistent with the United States foreign policy,
00:51and also benefit as well the co-owners of those gas fields.
00:55The present U.S. government, led by Donald Trump, revoked the waiver of certain sanctions
01:01against Venezuela by the former Joe Biden administration before the 2025 general election
01:07in Trinidad and Tobago on April 28th.
01:11On May 3rd, following the victory of the UNC and its coalition of interests,
01:15Prime Minister Kamala Prasad-Bissessa spoke about her phone call
01:19with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio one day earlier.
01:24We talked about the energy sector, but our carbon gas is there.
01:28You won't pursue that at all in terms of cross-border gas?
01:32Not at this point in time. Who knows in the fullness of time all things are possible.
01:37But at this point in time, I'm looking at the CARICOM.
01:40I'm definitely looking at our own cousins, brothers and sisters in the CARICOM.
01:45More than a month and a half later, in the House of Representatives, on June 23rd.
01:51We do understand the importance of the cross-border gas reservoirs.
01:56We understand the importance of that cross-border gas province.
02:01And we are also working with the authorities in the United States.
02:05We are also working with authorities elsewhere, in Venezuela as well,
02:10to ensure that we can have some common approach to eventually benefit from cross-border fields.
02:18As for the government's focus on gas supplies from CARICOM neighbors,
02:22Minister Munilal made reference to Suriname, which held its oil and gas conference last week.
02:28They are looking at the help of Trinidad and Tobago to negotiate with the international oil companies
02:34for bringing gas on shore and important.
02:38And they are also looking to import LNG from Trinidad and Tobago as an option.
02:44Minister Munilal said that Trinidad and Tobago Energy Ministry officials
02:47had conversations with the U.S.-based company Fulcrum that is involved in Guyana
02:53with regard to their gas exploration joint venture with ExxonMobil.
02:59Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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