Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 42 2022

LatAmOil TRINIDAD & TOBAGO LatAmOil

The company’s Coho discovery recently began producing gas (Image: Touchstone)

It definitely intends to participate in the auc- bidding process was moving forward smoothly.
tions and may submit offers for as many as three “It’s probably the best package we have ever seen
licence areas, he told the Business Guardian in Trinidad. Like, the data that’s available, ease of
newspaper following the announcement that access – it’s the best package we have ever seen,
Touchstone’s onshore Coho discovery had so it really helps to fine-tune the bid for sure,”
begun producing natural gas. he said.
“With the success we got at Coho and Casca- He did not say which blocks Touchstone
dura and at Royston, there is no question we’ve might target for investment.
got lots of interest from our side in some of those Trinidad and Tobago launched its onshore
blocks. We are for sure,” he commented. “The and near-shore licensing round on July 11, 2022.
parcels came out a little different from what we According to previous MEEI announcements,
thought they would be. That’s one thing that the round includes the Aripero, Buenos Ayres,
has changed a little bit. But we will be definitely Charuma, Cipero, Cory D, Cory F, Guayagua-
looking at, quite frankly, two or three of them yare, St Mary’s, South West Peninsula Onshore,
for sure.” South West Peninsula Offshore and Tulsa
Baay also expressed appreciation for the blocks.
quality of the seismic data made available by The ministry will accept bids for these sites
Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Energy and until January 2023 and hopes to announce the
Energy Industries (MEEI) and said that the winners of the contest the following April. ™

VENEZUEL A
US reportedly making Chevron’s sanctions

waiver dependent on Venezuelan talks

OFFICIALS in Washington have given clear opposition group in the US capital.
indications they will not accede to the US major During that meeting, the sources said, the US
Chevron’s request for permission to expand its officials and the opposition representatives dis-
operations in Venezuela unless that country’s cussed the options for making Venezuelan state
government agrees to resume talks with the funds held in foreign bank accounts, especially
political opposition on free and fair elections, in Europe, available for humanitarian purposes.
three sources close to the matter told Reuters They also stressed the urgency of continued
earlier this week. talks on elections.
Washington began communicating this posi- The State Department has partially con-
tion to Caracas on October 18, the sources said. firmed the sources’ statements. Reuters quoted
On that date, they explained, three senior US a spokesperson for the department as saying on
officials – Assistant Secretary of State for West- October 18 that Nichols had met with other offi-
ern Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols, Ambas- cials and members of the Unitary Platform in
sador for Venezuelan Affairs James Story and Washington to discuss “progress on a return to
senior White House policy advisor Juan Gon- negotiations with the Maduro regime in Mex-
zalez – met with Gerardo Blyde and five or more ico City and the ongoing humanitarian, political
representatives of Venezuela’s Unitary Platform and economic crisis in Venezuela.”

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 19•October•2022