(Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday, 1.Apr.2022) — Energy Minister Stuart Young said Trinidad and Tobago has a key role in the world’s energy landscape, even as he continued to seek foreign investment in TT’s oil and gas sectors, he told Thursday’s post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.
He recalled he recently attended Latin American and Pan African energy forums in Washington, DC, to further TT’s interests.
“It was very important for us to be at that conference, because it introduced into the conversation that natural gas is here to stay, natural gas is going to be here for decades, it’s not going to be a flick of the switch to renewables.”
He said it was vital to keep that conversation going on.
“And to tell them we (TT) may be in a unique position with an oil-and-gas-based economy in our part of the region and how we can produce greener, cleaner energy and renewables at the same time, etc, so those conversations continue to take place.”
Young recalled a recent meeting in TT with Barbara Feinstein, deputy assistant secretary for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti in the US State Department. He said the US is very aware of TT’s place in the global energy industry.
He said Cabinet said on Thursday he could go soon return the US for more energy talks with US officials. The trip will “explore how TT can contribute to what is going on in the global energy landscape, because we think we have a significant role to play.”
He said all trips he makes are occasions to bring foreign direct investment into TT, for both the energy and non-energy sectors.
Asked about any TT/Guyana energy talks, he said under his predecessor, the late Franklin Khan, the two countries had previously signed a memorandum of agreement, and conversations were ongoing.
“I was at the World Petroleum Congress in Houston in December. We had conversations with the minister from Guyana, who was there. We always hold out that we are available to assist in whatever way we can.
“We do have significant interest that is recognised around the world in oil and gas and the service industry, etc. When the Prime Minister and I were at the GECF (Gas Exporting Countries Forum) recently in Doha (Qatar), we had a number of our African brother and sister countries coming to us and we had bilateral meetings with them – Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria – them asking for assistance in terms of how we could assist them with their growing gas industries, getting over the hurdles we experienced some time ago.”
He said TT was available to help Guyana and Suriname, and recalled an NGC team’s recent visit to meet the Government of Guyana.
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By Sean Douglas
