Guardian ( Trinidad and Tobago )
28 January 2023 ( Page 8 )
Abdulah: Dragon deal a step in the right direction
By Lee Anna Maharaj
Political leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) David
Abdulah said the waiving of sanctions for T&T to develop
Venezuela’s Dragon Gas Field is a step in the right direction.
He said although the effects of this deal will not be seen for
some time, it will be beneficial in the long run, especially given
the global crises affecting gas and oil production.
“The United States is moving slowly but surely in the right
direction, and this will assist Trinidad and Tobago because we
have been short of natural gas production for quite some years
and, therefore, although the production coming out of Dragon
will not be realised for at least two years, it will mean that we
will have additional supplies of natural gas coming into
Trinidad,” he said.
Abudulah added that the extra supply will generate more
revenue from foreign countries.
“Of course, we don’t know in what quantity in terms of dollars
and cents because we are not privy to the various agreements
that have been already negotiated, or are to be negotiated,” he
said.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced that
T&T will resume work on the Dragon field which is run by the
Venezuela’s state owned energy company PDVSA.
The field is expected to produce approximately 150 million
standard cubic feet of gas a day which will be imported to T&T
via a 17 km pipeline to the Hibiscus platform off Trinidad’s
north coast.
The Hibiscus platform is owned by the T&T government,
National Gas Company, and Royal Dutch Shell.
Abdulah said he expects the Biden administration remove all
sanctions imposed during the term of former US President
Donald Trump.
“It is a step in the right direction, but much more has to be
done. These are not decisions taken by the US Congress, these
were decisions by executive order, beginning actually with
President Obama. He issued some sanctions on the executive
order, but they were extended and made very deep by Trump
and therefore, the Biden administration by executive order can
remove all of those sanctions and doesn’t require
Congressional approval.
“This ought to be done immediately and the Biden
administration ought to remove all of the Trump era executive
orders that worsen the blockade against Cuba,” he said.
The MSJ leader noted that Latin American and Caribbean
countries had called on the US to remove sanctions against
Venezuela completely since they were not imposed under the
United Nations Security Council Resolution. He said this is the
only internationally recognised way sanctions can be imposed.
PICTURE KRISTIAN DE SILVA-
MSJ leader David Abdulah