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  • 6 weeks ago

The government plans on commencing talks with Venezuela over the Dragon Gas Field.


It comes as the United States has granted an OFAC Licence, not to proceed with any project, but rather to negotiate the way forward.


Attorney General John Jeremie is of the view that the Dragon Gas deal has come back to life.


Alicia Boucher has the details.
Transcript
00:00Attorney General John Jeremy reveals a new development that came to be on October 8th
00:05concerning the drag and gas deal between TNT and Venezuela.
00:09I am pleased to announce that the Department of the Treasury of the United States
00:16has granted the OFAC license that was applied for by this government
00:25and the National Gas Company to pursue the exploration of the drag and gas field.
00:34Jeremy states that the license allows United States personnel,
00:38such as affiliates, contractors and service providers,
00:41acting on behalf of the stakeholders in TNT and energy giant Shell
00:45to undertake transactions necessary to the negotiations with the Venezuelan government.
00:51The effect of the grant of this license is to permit the government and the NGC
00:59to engage in negotiations with the government of Venezuela and other stakeholders
01:06to advance the drag and gas project without breaching sanctions imposed
01:15by the United States government and U.S. law.
01:20He distinguishes this license from the previous OFAC license obtained under the former PNM administration.
01:27That one, according to Jeremy, licensed the entire Dragon project.
01:31But a three-tiered approach has now been taken with a deadline set on the license.
01:36In this first approach, we go to April of 2026, with certain benchmarks in place.
01:47There are terms and conditions in the license which ensure that U.S. companies benefit.
01:55And there are tiers as to exactly how they should benefit.
02:03Trinidad obviously stands to benefit.
02:06And to a certain extent, of course, the people of Venezuela will benefit.
02:14As it pertains to Venezuela, he states that some benefits will be permitted while others will not.
02:20But he hasn't gone into detail on what those benefits will be.
02:24When the deal was being negotiated previously,
02:27monetary payment for Venezuela was an area that had to be navigated with the U.S. sanctions in place.
02:32Is that factored in at all into the OFAC license?
02:36The license does make, as I said, it does speak to that matter publicly, but it does speak to that matter.
02:51And that is something that has to be borne in mind in the course of the negotiations.
02:59As for when the government plans to engage Venezuela, Jeremy says there is a window of opportunity
03:05and the government is moving assiduously to exploit that window with urgency.
03:10And he's optimistic.
03:12Three days ago, there was no license.
03:16Today there is a license.
03:20And there is the Dragon Deal project has come alive.
03:30That much is obvious.
03:32It has also come at a time when the geopolitical situation between the U.S. and Venezuela has intensified
03:50compared to where it was at previously.
03:52We did not have U.S. warships in Caribbean waters and all of that.
03:59So is it a little bit preemptive without actually starting negotiations with Venezuela
04:05on this particular, with all these terms and conditions of this particular OFAC license
04:09to say that the Dragon Deal has come alive?
04:12I might not have said that we have begun negotiations with Venezuela,
04:20but I have reason for saying that the Dragon Gas Deal is alive.
04:28And what I mean by that is that we might not have sat around a table.
04:38No one has gone to Caracas.
04:42But that does not mean to say that there has been radio silence between Trinidad and Venezuela.
04:51Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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