Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 20 2022

LatAmOil TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO LatAmOil

Port of Spain does hope to offset these setbacks, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. However,
and the success of its efforts hinges partly on the sanctions imposed by Washington on Cara-
efforts by Shell (UK) to develop the 2.7 trillion cas have made such a venture unlikely.
cubic feet (76.46bn cubic metre) Manatee field. With few options for growth currently on the
Pressure on Shell has continued to mount, table, Trinidad and Tobago’s economy has lan-
particularly now that BHP (Australia) has devel- guished, marking a lengthy decline over the last
oped doubts about its earlier announced plans few years. Monitoring the situation closely are
to tap into deepwater gas fields offshore Trini- officials in Guyana, who are looking to prevent
dad and Tobago. The latter company is currently a similar situation from happening to their own
in the process of merging with a fellow Austral- country. Guyana is experiencing growth in both
ian company, Woodside Energy. the oil and the gas sectors, and its government
There have also been some discussions has decided to continue diversifying the econ-
about the possibility of developing gas reserves omy rather than relying heavily on hydrocarbon
that straddle the maritime border between resources like Trinidad and Tobago has done. ™

VENEZUEL A
US seen easing sanctions on Venezuela

to meet Europe’s need for additional oil

THE US government is reportedly gearing up to has led many Western traders to shun trans-
ease sanctions on Venezuela’s national oil com- actions involving Russian oil in order to avoid
pany (NOC) PdVSA in order to facilitate deliv- reputational damage, and it has also prompted
eries to Europe, a source familiar with the matter the US – and now the EU – to restrict imports
told Bloomberg earlier this week. of Russian crude.
According to the source, who spoke on con- Now, though, Eni and Repsol may be in a
dition of anonymity, the administration of US position to cover part of this gap with oil from
President Joe Biden has given European firms Venezuela, Bloomberg said. It quoted one of its
with upstream holdings in Venezuela a green sources as saying that the Biden administration
light to resume regular commercial operations was working with the two European companies
immediately, without risking penalties under to divert shipments of Venezuelan crude origi-
the sanctions regime. The US major Chev- nally destined for China.
ron has also been authorised to negotiate with Meanwhile, officials in Washington are
PdVSA on restarting its work in Venezuela, also not just hoping for movement on energy mar-
without risk of penalties, the source said. kets. Bloomberg quoted a second anonymous
Venezuela’s political opposition has source as saying that the easing of sanctions was
expressed its support for this move, he added. designed to facilitate talks between the Venezue-
The source’s statements could not be con- lan opposition and the government of President
firmed as of press time, though Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. The Biden administration
Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced in could draw flak for this, though, as many US
a post on her Twitter account that Washington lawmakers from the Republican party oppose
had authorised US and European companies moves that might shore up Maduro’s grip on
to “negotiate and restart operations” in her power. ™
country.
If these announcements are true, Bloomberg
noted, the parties most affected by the policy
shift will be Eni (Italy) and Repsol (Spain). These
two are the only major European oil firms that
have maintained upstream operations in Vene-
zuela, it explained.
Easing sanctions would allow these com-
panies to start working with PdVSA to export
Venezuelan crude on regular commercial terms,
as they have not been able to do for the last three
years. It might also help alleviate supply con-
cerns on European oil markets, which have
become increasingly tight since the Russian
invasion of Ukraine in late February. That event Repsol is one of two European companies active in Venezuela (Image: Repsol)

Week 20 19•May•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11