An Opposition Senator is calling on the Government to explain the status of the Manatee gas field project in light of the Venezuelan government's decision to cancel bilateral gas agreements with this country.
But the Attorney General says the Manatee field is not the same as the Dragon Gas field.
00:00Madam Vice President, we have had a cancellation of the Venezuelan gas framework and I call upon the Honorable Minister of Planning to speak today on what the issue now means for the manatee gas field.
00:19Opposition Senator and former Attorney General Faris al-Rawi speaking in the Senate about the decision by Venezuela's government that all bilateral gas agreements with Trinidad and Tobago be suspended.
00:32On Monday, Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Besessa had said in response that joint training exercises between the U.S. and the Trinidad and Tobago military are solely for improving Trinidad and Tobago's internal security and that no one, including the Venezuelan government, will pressure or blackmail her government into retreating from the fight against the drug cartels.
00:54Attorney General John Jeremy responded to Senator al-Rawi in the Senate on Wednesday.
00:59The Laurent Manatee field comprises gas that is owned by Trinidad and Venezuela, but not as the other field, the Dragon field, which is primarily with only Venezuelan gas.
01:15The Laurent Manatee arrangement was negotiated when I was the Attorney General and I happened to know something about it.
01:26An apparent reference to the past 2007-2010 PNM administration.
01:33The Energy Ministry's website presently has information regarding the work of a previous 2010-2015 UNC-led government.
01:41The deunitization of the Laurent Manatee field was announced in 2019 during the former PNM administration, then led by former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley.
01:50One, that field has been deunitized. That's the first thing.
01:59Secondly, the manatee side of the field is entirely in the domestic waters of Trinidad and Tobago.
02:15The opposition senator spoke on the matter as the Senate debated amendments to the excise duties on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages.
02:25Because if we cannot afford the expenditure, because we're not earning the revenue, if Point Lisa's industrial estate collapses without a line of sight for gas that manatee is to give, this importation order, this customs order, falls into serious jeopardy in what we are debating today.
02:5046-1, 46-1, 46-1, Madam Vice President.
02:54The Attorney General later reiterated that the Laurent Manatee gas field had been deunitized.
03:00And for you to come here, not once, not twice, repeat the same thing, not once, not twice, you're trying to tell the population,
03:12that the entire budget is going to collapse on itself.
03:22Well, this is not PNM light.
03:28It is not the new PNM.
03:32We know what we are about, and that is not going to happen.
03:36In June of this year, Energy Minister Dr. Rudal Munilal said in a statement that the Energy Ministry is very focused on working with Shell to ensure the safe delivery of the manatee project and first gas by 2027.
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