The Energy Chamber of Trinidad & Tobago warmly welcomes the news that the United States OFAC has granted a specific license for the National Gas Company, bp and the Government of Trinidad & Tobago to negotiate an agreement to develop the cross border Manakin-Coquina field with the authorities in Venezuela.

There are huge gas resources within the Plataforma Deltana region of Venezuela and in fields that straddle the maritime boundary with Trinidad & Tobago. Delivering natural gas by pipeline from those fields to Trinidad for processing through our world-class LNG and petrochemical industry offers a major opportunity for Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela and countries around the world who are reliant upon imported gas and petrochemicals to fuel their economies.

Bringing these gas resources to Trinidad & Tobago is one of the six points included in the Energy Chamber's Six-Point plan for the future of the gas industry. As well as delivering much needed gas to the downstream industry, the work involved in drilling and installing infrastructure on new gas fields offers important opportunities for many members of the Energy Chamber.

We congratulate the Government of Trinidad & Tobago on their careful diplomatic work to ensure that this OFAC license was granted and look forward to hearing further details on the development plans for this major gas field.