PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — The United States has granted Trinidad and Tobago permission to negotiate a gas deal with neighboring Venezuela without facing any U.S. sanctions, the Caribbean nation’s attorney general said Thursday.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday granted a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control that allows parties to conduct an otherwise prohibited transaction, according to the agency.
With Venezuela hit by US sanctions, Trinidad and Tobago needed the license to continue developing a gas field located in Venezuelan waters. The license was granted following an application that Trinidad and Tobago submitted in May, according to Attorney General John Jeremie.
“We have six months to negotiate, within the parameters,” Jeremie said at a news conference. “Objectives must be achieved with respect to the United States and its position with Venezuela.”
He said American companies have certain business objectives. He declined to provide further details but said those goals are reasonable and “not difficult” to meet.
Government officials and experts consider the gas project vital as Trinidad and Tobago seeks to increase its gas production. The government is looking for new sources of income, since in recent years in its budget spending has exceeded income.
Jeremie said the license does not cover the entire gas project but allows for initial negotiations. He declined to elaborate on the commercial terms of the license, saying only that certain benefits are allowed. Once the first stage is successfully completed, Jeremie said the process would move towards gas exploitation.
The permit was obtained after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago on September 30. During that meeting, Rubio outlined U.S. support for the gas deal and “measures to ensure that it does not provide significant benefits to the Maduro regime,” the U.S. State Department said.
Previously, in October 2023, the US Treasury Department had granted a license for the same gas project. But in April this year, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago announced that it had been revoked, a blow to the country’s energy security.
The terms of the new license are different from those of the previous license, according to the attorney general of the twin island republic. When asked if there had been any contact with Venezuela to start negotiations, Jeremie said: “I’m not prepared to get into that at the moment.”
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