Ramnarine: A trend of hard actions for T&T | Local news

The US Ministry of Finance published a 30-day message to the Chevron Corporation yesterday, in which the oil giant was picked up in Venezuela until April 3.

General license No. 41, issued on November 26, 2022, which enabled Chevron to resume the Venezuelan raw errors in the USA, was completely replaced yesterday and replaced by general license No. 41a.

The move sets the ability of Chevron to pump and sell Venezuelan oil effectively and is a significant change in US policy, just a few days after President Donald Trump swore to reverse the oil concessions of his predecessor Joe Biden to Venezolan President Nicolas Maduro.

The former Minister of Energy Kevin Ramnarine found that if they are ready to take such measures against Chevron, the United States could determine a yardstick for what Trinidad and Tobago are faced with its cross -border energy negotiations with Venezuela.

In a WhatsApp message in response to the changed license to Chevron, Ramnarine said:

“President Trump and Marco Rubio's statements have significantly increased uncertainty about Dragon and Coucnina Manakin projects. A few days ago, the office for foreign asset control via the US Ministry of Finance published that it handled the general license 41 (GL41), which is the license related to Chevron “and other specific licenses”.

“Now you have officially started the wind from GL 41 and replaced it with GL41A, which offers Chevron a month to handle the operations in Venezuela. In this state, we do not know what the finance department will do with regard to Dragon and Coucina manakin, but this hard action against Venezuela and Chevron could indicate what the trend of action could be. “

Last Thursday, the incumbent Prime Minister Stuart Young said at the Press Conference after the cabinet that he could not guarantee the survival of the dragon gas agreement with Venezuela.

However, he said that if the deal fails, he will continue to fight for Trinidad and Tobago as the future leader.

Last Wednesday, Trump announced that he would revoke the license that the Venezuelan government allowed to export oil to the United States, and quoted Venezuela's failure to take back her deported nationals.

Trump published the social of the truth: “We hereby reverse the concessions that Joe Biden gave to Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela, according to the oil transaction contract of November 26, 2022 and also with the electoral conditions in Venezuela, which were not fulfilled by the Maduro regime.”

Hours later, Rubio said on X that he would give foreign policy guidelines to end all bid and gas licenses from the bid era “who shared the illegitimate Maduro regime”.

Dragon deal decisive

Young admitted that the Trump government's actions immediately prompted him to deal with civil servants from the United States in T&T and with energy companies Shell and BP to seek clarity.

“At this point there was no indication of negative effects on Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.

However, he admitted that the forecast of future decisions of the US government was impossible.

Young emphasized that the dragon business for the energy security of T&T was of crucial importance, the stability of Caricom and geopolitical relationships with other nations.

“Can we offer a certainty at this time? The answer is obviously no. Are we busy with the right people? We believe it is, ”he said.

Chevron's joint ventures with PDVSA represent about a quarter of the country's entire oil production, Reuters reported yesterday.

In January, Chevron exported almost 300,000 BPD (Barrel per day) Venezuelan oil to the USA and provided an urgently needed source of heavy crude oil for its own refineries and others from companies such as Valero Energy, PBF Energy, Phillips 66 and Exxon Mobil, said Reuters.