(Trinidad Guardian) Last night, T&T and Venezuela finally signed an agreement to jointly explore the Dragon Gas Field, which is located in the maritime area of Venezuela.
Energy Minster Stuart Young and Venezuela’s Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea signed the agreement at Miraflores, the official residence of the Venezuelan president. The signing ceremony was broadcast on Venezuela’s national television.
Venezuelan President Maduro highlighted the agreement as a “historical” and “exemplary” fact about how two nations, T&T and Venezuela, can join forces to establish agreements that benefit their respective peoples.
“This signing of this agreement to introduce technology and pipelines to begin producing gas in Venezuelan seas is an enormous message of peace and will generate resources and wealth to invest in our people,” said Maduro.
On Wednesday, Maduro met Young, with whom he signed agreements for joint gas exploitation.
In his speech at the signing ceremony, Maduro said: “Trinidad and Tobago and the Bolivarian republic of Venezuela as good neighbours and brothers, we have taken a gigantic step! With the signing of the agreement to work the Dragon Field in Venezuelan waters that will lead us to produce together, a project that was lost from sight.
“It is a message of peace, of complementarity, solidarity, exercised and shared sovereignty.”
Within the framework of the signing of the gas exploitation agreements with T&T, Maduro reported that Venezuela has immense gas reserves in the Caribbean that place that country in fourth place in the world.
“We are the first oil reserve and now we are opening all investments in gas. I spoke with President Xi Jinping and China is coming with great investments and great technology to produce gas in the Venezuelan Caribbean Sea, in win-win relations,” Maduro commented.
He added: “T&T and Venezuela have decided in peace to jointly exploit the Dragon Gas Field. It is the next step we have to take, so that we can see how two sovereign countries can work together,” he reported.
An historic opportunity
Venezuela’s Vice President of the Republic, Delcy Rodríguez, was present at the event along with senior officials of the Venezuelan government. Regarding the agreement signed with T&T for gas exploitation, she said that it is an historic step.
“For Venezuela it represents an historic opportunity to develop the gas industry for the benefit of our people, for the economic development of our people, but also the impact it has on the good neighborly relations of brotherhood that have been established and woven between two countries. of our region,” said Rodríguez.
She added that the agreements with Port-of-Spain have been signed “within the framework of legality and international law” to develop the gas industry in favour of both peoples.”
She highlighted that the agreement comes at a good time to work for a common goal “as brother peoples of this region, who share a wonderful Caribbean space and it is a time to highlight the dimension of having carried out these negotiations.”