On Monday, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley said that the country had canceled the joint development of a natural gas field with Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) due to US sanctions against the Venezuelan state-owned company.
Initially, the two countries would develop the unitized Loran-Manatee shallow-water field located in their maritime border. Under the agreement signed in 2013, Venezuela owned 73.75% of the joint field and the rest belongs to Trinidad and Tobago.
The progress of the field had been impeded by the US sanctions against PDVSA, which restrains US companies from doing business with the company. US oil major Chevron Corp. holds 60% interest in the Loran field and PDVSA holds the rest. In the Manatee field, Shell Trinidad and Tobago Ltd. owns 100% of the interests.
At the moment, the two countries would individually evolve the field.
According to Rowley, the gas production in the Manatee field is scheduled to start on 2024 or 2025 at a rate of 270-400 million cf/day.
Rowley also said that the decision to individually develop their gas fields would affect the development of other cross-border fields, named the Mankin-Cocuina and the Kapok-Doradoh.
