Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 47 2021

LatAmOil TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO LatAmOil

He also called on other nations to stop criticising committed to the fight against climate change.
gas and suggested emphasising the advantages The country has set a goal of reducing its
of this kind of fuel. “We all recognise and accept carbon dioxide emissions by 103mn tonnes by
that global climate change is an important [mat- 2030 and is pursuing several major renewable
ter] and a problem that we are facing, but we projects in an effort to reach this target. These
must not let natural gas and its by-products be include carbon capture and storage (CCS) and
caught up in the negative conversations,” he said solar energy projects. ™
during the meeting, which was held online.
The minister stressed gas’ potential for lon-
gevity, saying he believed the large size of global
reserves would come into play as energy demand
expands and increases around the world. Addi-
tionally, he said, while natural gas may be a fossil
fuel, it has the ability to reduce emissions if used
as a replacement for coal in electricity produc-
tion as well as for diesel as trucking fuel.
For all these reasons, he commented, natural
gas will continue to be a pillar of Trinidad and
Tobago’s economy.
The island state is currently at a crossroads,
as it attempts to monetise its gas resources to the
greatest extent possible while also attempting
to make the transition to a low-carbon econ-
omy. Young indicated that Port of Spain would
continue to emphasise both of these goals, not-
ing that the country’s government was fully Energy Minister Stuart Young (Photo: News.Gov.TT)

COLOMBIA
Top-polling presidential candidate wants

Bogotá to stop awarding oil and gas deals

GUSTAVO Petro, a former mayor of Bogotá campaigns by raising taxes on certain types of
who is now the leading candidate in Colombia’s agricultural imports. This measure would help
presidential race, has said he will stop awarding “defend” the national economy, while also cre-
oil and gas contracts if he wins the vote, which is ating millions of jobs, he told El Tiempo.
scheduled to take place in May 2022. In an inter- Additionally, Petro called on Colombia’s
view with El Tiempo published last week, he said national oil company (NOC) Ecopetrol to
his first act as president would be putting a halt switch its focus to solar and wind energy pro-
to these deals. jects. He urged the state-owned firm to make
Petro, a long-time left-wing activist, changes as rapidly as possible, saying: “If there’s
explained his stance by saying he wanted to no one who’ll buy Colombian carbon or oil, we
move Colombia away from the “extractiv- need to react quick.”
ist” model, in which the economy is based on This is not the first time the candidate has
resource exploitation and fossil fuel consump- expressed the desire to halt oil and gas licens-
tion. In an interview with El Tiempo, he said that ing. He made nearly identical proposals in 2018,
his government would instead seek to attract when he last sought the presidency. This time,
investment from companies that prioritised though, his prospects for winning the election
carbon emissions reduction. are much more solid; he is currently the high-
This switch is necessary to prevent climate est-polling candidate in the race. ™
change, as a matter of national security, the can-
didate asserted. Colombia must leave 80% of
its fossil fuel reserves undeveloped in order to
support efforts to limit the rise in global tem-
peratures to 1.5 degrees Celsius or less, he said.
He went on to say that Colombia could
compensate for some of the economic disrup-
tion that might stem from decarbonisation Petro tops the polls (Photo: Twitter/@petrogustavo)

Week 47 25•November•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9