With Trinidad now as its sole fuel provider, Guyana is mulling following sister Caricom countries in search of additional suppliers to ensure fuel security here, Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson says.
“One of the issues you would have to look at is energy security because, right now, PetroCaribe is no longer upon us,” Patterson said at the swearing in of the new board of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) yesterday.
“The CEO [of the GEA] advised that we get all [fuel] right now from Petrotrin… there are concerns if Petrotrin can serve the entire Caricom region… I know some of my colleague ministers have already approached Caricom regarding a waiver so that they can look outside… we also, as a country, have to look into that, energy security,” he went on to state.
Against this background, Patterson charged the new six-member board to look at a possible proposal to ensure that if Trinidad is not able to meet the country’s demand there is a fall back.
The new board is chaired by Lance Hinds, with attorney Nadia Sagar, business executive Mark Bender, GEA’s CEO Mahender Sharma and energy expert Vincent Adams serving as members.
“It is one of the issues I think should engage the board. The CEO has told me that we have 14 days’ reserve at the moment, so obviously should anything go wrong we have to address that because 14 days is not a long time…the CEO has prepared a draft paper, which I ask you to review and submit for alternatives to fuel ,” Patterson told the new board members.
“The issue is energy security. You don’t want to be over-reliant on one supplier. Trinidad is serving the entire region now,” he also said.
PetroCaribe is an arrangement established by Venezuela in 2005 to sell oil on soft terms to its Caribbean allies.
Patterson said that that although the agreement between Venezuela and Guyana came to an end in November last year, the country had not received fuel from Venezuela since July, 2015.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo has referred to Venezuela’s position of the non-renewal of the PetroCaribe barter agreement as “an act of economic sanction against Guyana.”
The relationship between Guyana and Venezuela had been deteriorating since last year May, when President Nicolas Maduro issued a decree laying claim to most of Guyana’s Atlantic waters. That Decree was subsequently withdrawn and replaced with a new one that was still offensive. The initial decree was issued after United States-based oil company ExxonMobil announced that it had made a significant oil find in the Stabroek Block offshore Demerara.
Government announced late last year that it had begun sourcing its fuel from Trinidad and that the prices there were favourable.
