Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Patrick Manning have signed an accord to unify two offshore reserves of natural gas.
The agreement will allow the neighbouring countries to jointly exploit the undersea deposits of the Loran and Manatee fields in the Deltana Platform. Loren is believed to hold up to 10 trillion ft
3
of gas, which surpasses Brazil’s proven reserves. “What a great potential we have if we, beyond unifying hydrocarbons reservoirs, unite our willingness,” said Chavez. “It reflects our will to co-operate, to become integrated, to unite,” he added.
Venezuelan state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA refused to elaborate on the reserve-sharing agreement for Deltana, which may hold as much as 40 trillion cubic ft
3
of natural gas. It is believed Chevron, BP, BG Group and Statoil ASA will develop Deltana.
Manning said this is the first agreement of its kind in the Americas, adding that the two reservoirs could not exploited otherwise, as gas is located on both sides of the border. “Discussions on who owns them would be endless,” he said.
Trinidad and Tobago is a major exporter of natural gas and also supplies oil to Caribbean countries. Venezuela is a major oil exporter and has a large and almost untapped gas reserves base.
Chavez said he has invited Manning to participate in an energy summit in Venezuela in April, which will also be attended by the 12 Latin American countries’ leaders. Manning is said to be keen to renew his relationship with Chavez during the talks.
Chavez also said Venezuela will be working hard to secure more agreements for the joint exploitation of reserves, noting that Trinidad and Tobago possesses an extraordinary capacity for processing hydrocarbons and placing them in the market. Both leaders expressed interest in furthering energy cooperation between their countries.
Follow us on
