South America, Africa prevail as E&P hotspots

31 December 2024 Iain Esau Fabio Palmigiani London

 

Namibia’s Orange basin and Stabroek block offshore Guyana are set to enjoy top billing in 2025 as exploration efforts continue and new developments are launched.

Discoveries offshore Africa and South America dominated global exploration and production activity, with the steady flow of positive updates from Namibia and Guyana continuing to stoke oil and gas explorers’ interest throughout 2024. Optimism abounds for what 2025 might have in store, not just for exploration and development in the prolific petroliferous Atlantic Margin, but also in the emerging zones of the E&P hotspots that have already shown early promise. Upstream identifies the fields, basins and blocks to watch in 2025.

 

ExxonMobil positive about Chevron-Hess merger amid arbitration

Robert Stewart  –  Published 11 December 2024, 22:25

‘That’s their construct, not ours,’ Darren Woods said of arbitration possibly derailing $53 billion deal.

ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods spoke during the CERAWeek by S&P Global summit in Houston, Texas, US on 18 March 2024. ExxonMobil’s priority in winning its arbitration challenge against Chevron and Hess over the prolific petroliferous Stabroek block offshore Guyana is not whether the case could blow up the proposed $53 million merger between the two US operators, chief executive Darren Woods told analysts.

“I know that the discussion out there has been that Chevron and Hess have arranged the deal so that the deal falls apart” if Chevron and Hess lose the case, Woods said at an ExxonMobil corporate presentation in conjunction with its 2025 guidance issued Wednesday.

“That’s their construct, not ours. Our view is that we have an opportunity. We’ve developed the value of that asset. We have a right to consider the value of that asset in this transaction, and a right to then take an option on it. “Why would we give that away?”

Chevron and Hess have acknowledged in federal filings that their marriage may “fail to be completed” if the ExxonMobil-CNOOC International arbitration does not go their way.

ExxonMobil and CNOOC International filed their arbitration challenges months after Chevron and Hess announced their deal. Both companies believe they have a right of first refusal to Hess’ 30% stake in Stabroek, which is a key pillar in the Chevron merger.

One of the first questions that analysts asked Woods was the rationale for the arbitration, which made headlines for months and has dragged the timeline for Chevron-Hess merger for more than a year than its originally anticipated finish.

Woods maintained that ExxonMobil is “very confident” in its case because it believes it is more familiar with the “intent” of the original contract for Stabroek that it drew up with Shell when the UK supermajor still owned a stake in the field.

ExxonMobil operates Stabroek with a 45% stake. The remaining 25% belongs to CNOOC International. The ExxonMobil chief said his objective is to “defend what we believe is a fundamental right” to value Hess’ stake in Stabroek and decide whether his company wants to buy the interest.

“So maintaining the integrity of that document and defending that, I think, is critical, not only for this particular asset, but for the precedent that it sets for everything else that we’re doing. That’s the basis on which we’re approaching this.”

ExxonMobil senior vice president Neil Chapman was even more blunt than Woods. He said the company’s rationale for arbitration is “dead simple”.

“It would be incomprehensible in my mind to just say, ‘We don’t think we want to test it. We don’t know what the value is. We’re not gonna look at it. What we’re saying is we have the rights. We want to test the value.”

‘We’re continuing to explore’
Guyana is the gift that keeps on giving for ExxonMobil and its partners in Stabroek. Three floating production, storage and offloading vessels are already in operation there and three others — Yellowtail, Uaru and Whiptail — have already been sanctioned and should be in place by 2027. Two other FPSO developments, Hammerhead and Longtail, could come online by the end of the decade and push Stabroek’s output to 1.3 million barrels per day by 2030.

Though the project output in the offshore field continues to climb, Chapman noted that “we’re still very early in the development of the Stabroek block. Three boats online, five to come. These eight boats are to be deployed across hundreds of square miles. What that means is when you’ve got eight foundational boats, you’ve got lots of opportunities for tiebacks, you’ve got lots of opportunities for infield drilling.

“Those are the highest return investment you’ll ever make in the upstream (segment) because you’ve got most of the capital already deployed. We’re not even close to doing that. There’s lots of running room. We’re continuing to explore.”

Exxon can also acquire the 25% stake of CNOOC to complete ownership of the entire Block and guarantee energy security amid escalating conflict.

Trinidad:

Canadian operator acquires Shell’s interest in offshore block

Robert Stewart –
Published 13 December 2024, 17:30

Touchstone Exploration says Central block assets offshore Trinidad & Tobago grant access to more gas resources.

Touchstone agreed to purchase Shell’s interest in the Central block for $23 million, giving the Calgary-based operator access to additional natural gas resources in the basin. Touchstone will pay BG Overseas Holdings Limited $23 million consideration in cash prior to closing adjustments. The deal, which still needs regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025. Touchstone is working with Trinidad-based Republic Bank Ltd to finance the acquisition.

Shell Trinidad Central Block Limited holds a 65% interest in the Central block exploration and production licence and gas processing plant that Touchstone is acquiring. Heritage Petroleum Company owns the remaining 35%.

The assets include four wells in the Carapal Ridge, Baraka and Baraka East natural gas pools in the Central block where Touchstone identified “numerous” infill well locations in the Miocene and a “deeper” Cretaceous prospect. Gross production from the Central block assets is about 3200 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which constitutes roughly 18 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and 200 barrels per day of natural gas liquids.

The agreement should increase Touchstone’s base net production by about 2000 boepd, about 94% of which will be gas.

STCBL holds three gas marketing contracts: one accessing the Trinidad domestic market, and two contracts accessing the Atlantic LNG facility in Trinidad. The Central block assets, situated in the historic Herrera fairway are contiguous with Touchstone’s Ortoire block in the basin, providing strategic potential for natural gas egress and marketing options from future discoveries. Touchstone also processes gas from its Coho field in the Central block and said the asset base also has “facility optimisation potential, infill drilling opportunities and exploration prospects.”

Touchstone chief executive Paul Baay commented, “The asset is a strategic fit with Touchstone’s current land base and provides us access to world LNG prices for natural gas. The infrastructure associated with the assets provides processing and takeaway capacity for natural gas in the Herrera fairway. During 2025 we will consider pursuing an infill development drilling programme at Central block and look to boost production and LNG sales.” (Copyright)

Related:

Touchstone identifies Herrera turbidite accumulation onshore Trinidad

Alex Procyk  – March 2, 2023

Touchstone Exploration Inc. found hydrocarbons in the Royston-1X exploration well on Ortoire block, onshore Trinidad. The well is being cased and completion and testing operations—expected to include multiple test intervals—will begin in April.

Drilled using Star Valley Drilling Rig #205 the well is a sidetrack from the original Royston-1 exploration well drilled by Touchstone in 2021. The sidetrack well was designed to further explore the thick sequence of Herrera sandstones encountered at Royston-1.

Royston-1X kicked off from the Royston-1 at a depth of about 7,150 ft and reached total measured depth of 11,316 ft on February 24, 2023. Drilling samples and openhole wireline logs indicated that the well encountered a significant Herrera turbidite sequence at a measured depth of 9,558 ft, about 330 ft structurally higher than in the original Royston-1 well and penetrated about 310 ft of Herrera section below that observed in Royston-1.

The Herrera turbidite had aggregate estimated thickness greater than 1,660 ft with about 765 net ft of sand. The accumulation contained hydrocarbons.

 

 

 

T&T, Venezuela energy relationship dominated 2024

The ceremonial simulation of steel cutting signalled the commencement of the local fabrication phase for the Manatee Project, at TOFCO Yard, La Brea Industrial Estate.

The relationship between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela in the energy sector dominated headlines with developments in the Dragon Gas, Manakin Cocuina and Manatee deals.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and key players in the energy sector posed beside the Doña Jose II vessel (“DJ2”) on 11th October 2024. The DJ2 conducted surveys in Venezuela to collect technical data on the Dragon gas field. In February, after the United States reimposed sanctions on Venezuela, there were fears that it would impact energy deals between T&T and Venezuela but Rowley assured the Government took “a different path” and got a “carve-out”.

Sanctions were reimposed after Venezuela’s top court upheld the disqualification of an opposition presidential hopeful and US companies doing business with Venezuela’s state-owned mining company had to conclude transactions by February 13. Rowley told media,

“Yes, the United States placed sanctions on Venezuela… When the United States government issued its General Licence Number 44, that global general licence to all and sundry did not limit or dampen the enthusiasm of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.

From day one, we did not put our argument or our expectations on the General Licence Number 44, which expires on 18th April. Those who rely on that general licence to do business with Venezuela, that expiry (date) is their problem. We never relied on that, otherwise, we would’ve been in that situation. From day one, we took a different path.

We sought, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control, to get a carve-out. And that OFAC licence we got in January 2023 is for two years… And we have got that confirmation from this meeting in Washington (earlier this week) that we are not directly affected by the 18th of April activity (expiry). The US government can change this position at any time. Because those of you who follow US politics, see by the hour what is happening with the US with its own business, passing its own budget. It’s turmoil.”

The specific amended OFAC licence issued to T&T on October 17, 2023, is valid until October 31, 2025. T&T also secured a 30-year exploration and production licence from the government of Venezuela for the Dragon gas field on December 21, 2023. Rowley disclosed that the gas pipeline to connect the Dragon field to the Hibiscus field in T&T waters will cost much more than $100 million.

“While abroad, I saw somebody from the Opposition in one of the press conferences while crowing about the loss of the Dragon (deal). They were talking about some $100 million pipeline from Dragon to Hibiscus.

I want to make it abundantly clear that I know that game. I have been in this matter from its conception to now. I have never seen a document anywhere and I have never seen a quotation on the cost of that pipeline.

But what I do know, and anybody who knows anything about this issue…would know that a pipeline from Dragon to Hibiscus cannot be seen in the context of a $100 million.”

Following this, in June, Shell T&T applied to the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) for a certificate of environmental clearance to conduct geotechnical and geophysical site surveys from the T&T’s maritime boundary to the existing Hibiscus field, North Coast Marine Area, as it tries to bring gas to T&T from Venezuela’s Dragon Gas field.

Shell and the T&T National Gas Company (NGC) were jointly awarded a 30-year licence to develop the Dragon field by the Bolivarian Republic’s state-owned company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) after T&T was granted a special licence from the US Treasury Department, allowing it to by-pass sanctions against the Nicolás Maduro government and develop the gas field to bring hydrocarbons to Trinidad for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petrochemical plants. The Prime Minister mentioned this bypass in his conference months earlier.

The survey was needed to assess how Shell and NGC would have to construct a 17-kilometre pipeline, with initial production at 185 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) but increasing to 350 mmcsf/d.

The licence stated that Shell would hold a 70% stake in the joint venture and NGC the remaining 30%. Venezuela would collect royalties and taxes, possibly via natural gas supplies.

Despite being in the joint agreement for Dragon with NGC, Shell did not make a final investment decision for the field’s production.   In December, NGC chairman Dr Joseph Ishmael Khan confirmed that they are pressing on with the Dragon gas project during a news conference to present the company’s 2023 audited financial results.

“From a policy point of view, we are keeping and maintaining good relationships and we believe that at some point we will know what  President (Donald) Trump really is thinking.

At this time there is speculation. Geopolitics has a high degree of uncertainty but maintaining some relationships, having our brokers and lobbyists in the right places and the right space, that is key. From a technical standpoint and a project standpoint, Verlier (Quan-Vie) will tell you that work is going on. Why should we stop? We have a business to run and we are running our business,” Khan said.

NGC VP of Finance, Technology and Risk, Narinejit Pariag added that T&T holds the necessary licences from OFAC for the Cocuina-Manakin and the Dragon projects and will continue to operate within the provided parameters.

Stuart Young   told a conference on December 19 at the ministry, work on Dragon Gas is progressing with survey ships out, plans are being drawn on how the pipeline will be built and where the wells will go.

“They were in Venezuela recently retaining the service companies, both American and Venezuelan, to carry out the project and up to now there is absolutely no hesitation to believe there is a delay in it whatsoever,” said Young.

 

MANAKIN-COCUINA

In May, bp paused discussions with Venezuela on the development of Manakin-Cocuina as its OFAC licence had expired in April. However, Young announced OFAC granted a licence to T&T to negotiate and develop the Manakin-Cocuina gas field with Venezuela later in May, adding that the licence is set to expire on May 31, 2026.

“We filed to our attorneys in Washington, DC, a specific request for an application to OFAC again for Manakin-Cocuina, that was done on April 12. I am happy to tell you today that as of yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon T&T has received a specific licence from OFAC–the second one that we have received through bpTT and NGC to work in Venezuela for the Manakin-Cocuina field.”

The licence allows the pursuit, exploration production and export of gas from this field to T&T.

The cross-border Manakin-Cocuina field between T&T and Venezuela is estimated to hold one trillion cubic feet (tcf).

“(It has) similar terms to the Dragon Gas Deal so that we can pay in fiat currency–a national currency that is not pegged to the price of a commodity such as gold or silver–US currency etc. In other words, they have given us the go-ahead,” said Young.

In July, Venezuela granted a 20-year natural gas production and exploration licence to bp and NGC.

This prompted the Prime Minister to say, “Cocuina has now been signed and sealed.”

This means that T&T now has two substantial fields (including the Loran Manatee field) of proven gas available to keep Point Lisas at an operational level and keep T&T in the hydrocarbon business. There are three fields on the border of T&T and Venezuela with the Loran- Manatee field being the main one, in which T&T has a 23% stake. T&T was able to get an agreement with Venezuela to export the gas from the TT sector of the field, creating opportunities and jobs for locals.

“Because we have been able to get that agreement in Venezuela, one of our main constructing companies in Trinidad has a future —TOFCO (Trinidad Offshore Fabricators Unlimited), that builds platform. The country would be in “real trouble” if it did not have gas to operate the Point Lisas industries and the LNG plants.

bpTT president David Campbell, added, “The award of this licence for the Cocuina field is an important milestone for T&T and for bp. It will allow us to move forward with our planning for the development of these significant discovered resources as we work towards bringing more gas into T&T’s existing gas infrastructure in this decade. The award of the licence would not have been possible without the significant diplomatic efforts by the government of Trinidad and Tobago and their leadership in driving strong collaboration between bp, the NGC and the governments of T&T and Venezuela.”

According to bp, the development of the discovered gas resources in the Manakin-Cocuina field is an important part of its long-term development plan for its Trinidad gas business. bp will hold 80% equity in the Cocuina field, with NGC holding 20%.

On August 30, Young announced that the vessel PXGEO2, along with two supporting ships, was scheduled to conduct a 3D seismic survey between September 4 and 19 at a portion of the Manakin field.

Then in October, seismic work conducted at the cross-border Manakin-Cocuina gas field was completed and was being processed. The Energy Ministry stated this following a meeting between Young and executives of bpTT, led by its president Campbell yesterday.

Within the unitised Manakin-Cocuina field, 66% of the discovered gas resources have been allocated to Trinidad (the Manakin field) with 34% allocated to Venezuela (the Cocuina field). Campbell also provided an update on bpTT’s joint venture, deep water projects and the divestment of its mature assets to Perenco and said drilling at the Cypre development continues and further development drilling opportunities were being evaluated.

MANATEE

Focusing on the Manatee gas field, in July, Shell T&T announced that it took a final investment decision to develop the field which is projected to produce a peak of 604 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day or 104,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Manatee gas field is located in the East Coast Marine Area (ECMA) in T&T and is part of the cross-border Loran-Manatee discovery, shared with Venezuela, believed to hold around 10 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, with 7.3 tcf on Venezuela’s side and the remaining 2.7 tcf on T&T’s side.

After this, a Houston-based offshore engineering and construction provider MCDERMOTT was awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, installation, hookup and commissioning contract by Shell T&T for Manatee – located 60 miles (100 kilometres) off the southeast coast of Trinidad. Under this contract, McDermott will design, procure, fabricate, hook up and commission a platform and jacket. The company will also handle the design, installation and commissioning services for a 32-inch gas pipeline, connecting the platform to a gas processing facility operated by Shell. The scope includes the design, procurement, installation and testing of a fibre optic cable.

The Loran-Manatee field was discovered in 1983, with Loran in Venezuelan waters and Manatee in Trinidad and Tobago waters. In October, T&T was in advanced negotiations to acquire the gas-rich Loran field from Venezuela. Young said in the House of Representatives on October 4,

“Manatee has taken FID, final investment decision, by Shell in July of this year; that is the single largest hydrocarbon project in decades. Manatee was complicated because we have to deunitise it from Loran in Venezuela. And as the Prime Minister hinted to the population on Friday last week, we are deep in conversations and negotiations to get the Loran field from Venezuela as well, which is over 7 tcf of gas,” Young said.

During the 25th anniversary and restructuring event of Atlantic LNG on September 27, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley mentioned ongoing negotiations with Venezuela regarding the Loran gas field.

On December 19, Young told media at the ministry that Manatee has started, one the largest gas production fields.

“Manatee is full speed ahead, work has begun at TOFCO and all of the piles, equipment and steel are being brought in,” said Young.

He added that is proceeding full speed ahead and expects that it will come on board before 2027 when it is scheduled to begin production.

Background

Trinidad expects first output from Venezuela’s Dragon gas field in 2027
CARACAS/HOUSTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) – A natural gas project to be developed in Venezuelan waters by Shell and Trinidad and Tobago state-owned National Gas Company (NGCTT.UL) could achieve first output in the next two years if a positive investment decision is made, Trinidad officials said.

Venezuela and Trinidad on Thursday signed a 30-year licence granting Shell and NGC rights to produce the gas and export it to Trinidad. The agreement followed months of negotiations since the United States authorized the project in January. U.S. approval and the licence came after the parties had unsuccessfully tried in previous years to come to an agreement for joint offshore gas development.

Trinidad Energy Minister Stuart Young said Dragon and adjacent Manatee gas project in Trinidad waters are expected to contribute up to 1 trillion cubic feet of gas in its first phase. Both fields will compete to inaugurate production. The Venezuelan licence granted this week provides for an initial output of 185 million cubic feet per day of gas to be sent to Trinidad for producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petrochemicals, Venezuela’s state company PDVSA said .

Trinidad has been trying to gain access to its neighbor’s vast gas reserves as its own output dwindles. On its side, Venezuela is looking for a fresh source of cash from exports.

“What we have done is to find additional resources, and fortunately, we have been able to get an agreement with the government of Venezuela,” Prime Minister Keith Rowley told media.

Young said Shell will operate the Dragon project and a 18-kilometer pipeline linking Dragon to its Hibiscus production platform in Trinidad. Rowley said had Trinidad and Tobago not maintained a close relationship with Venezuela, Shell would not have been given the opportunity to participate in the project. Some U.S. sanctions on Venezuela were eased in October to encourage free elections in the country next year.

Referring to controversy including a territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana, Rowley said, “We have been speaking to Venezuela on all issues…But at the end of the day, Trinidad and Tobago stands on its principles.”

Dragon and three neighboring offshore gas fields were discovered by PDVSA and its reserves confirmed over a decade ago. The company installed some infrastructure, did production tests and began building a gasline to Venezuela’s shore but the project was not commercially developed due to lack of partners, investment and, more recently, U.S. sanctions.

 

 

CAF is favourite development bank of T&T

2024, 12/17

Minister of Finance Colm Imbert and CAF representative for T&T, Bernardo Requena signed a US$35 million investment loan to strengthen theTT Export-Import Bank services for the SME sector.
Two weeks ago, at the launch of the Report on Economic Development (RED) 2024 by CAF, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, T&T Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, heaped significant praise on CAF, calling it his favourite bank. The former Andean Development Corporation (or Corporación Andina de Fomento), is similarly enjoying its relationship with T&T which opened its door for further Caribbean expansion. The mission of CAF is to promote sustainable development and regional integration in Latin America and the Caribbean, through financing of projects of the public and private sectors as well as the provision of technical cooperation and other specialised services. In 12 years, CAF allocated over US$1 billion to T&T in the form of loans and grants. Bernardo Requena, CAF representative in T&T, said,

“It is US$1.3 billion. That’s the size of our portfolio here in Trinidad and Tobago. If you take into consideration the size of the population or the GDP of T&T , $1.3 billion, compared to a country like Brazil or Argentina, is not that big . T&T’s command of a large fraction of the bank’s investment in the Caribbean region may not be surprising given that it was the first Caribbean country to join CAF as an associate member in 1994.”

However, despite signing on since then, it took a while for the country to approach CAF.

“I would say that at the beginning, it was a little bit dormant because we were far away. The headquarters were in Caracas, Venezuela. And, the relationship was a little bit distant. But then when you have a presence, like having an office, that changed the ball game, because you can interact with ministers, with banks, with everything that forms part of the economic structure of the country,” said Requena, who explained that the establishment of a CAF office was the start of a fruitful relationship with the T&T Government.

“T&T became a full member in 2012. In 2013, we opened the office. In 2016 the first loan was approved. It was like a test and they (the government) liked it. It was dispersed in 2017, and in 2022 we launched the regional management office here in Trinidad and Tobago,” said Requena.

The first loan was for US$300 million and was targeted at fiscal consolidation. Since then, the government has continued to work with the bank on various projects.

At the launch, Imbert hailed former Minister of Finance Winston Dookeran’s influence in expanding the relationship between CAF and T&T, as the bank has been a major help to T&T’s development since then.

“CAF has supported infrastructure projects for road construction; air and sea transportation and tourism infrastructure; strengthening of the healthcare system and COVID-19 emergencies as well as strengthening of the Eximbank of T&T, to name a few. Additionally, technical cooperation assistance estimated at US$400,000 has been made available to support the monitoring and construction of the ANR Robinson International Airport; evaluation of the feasibility of a public private partnership for the drydock of Chaguaramas and the development of systems for establishing a digital tax payment system in Trinidad and Tobago.”

This week the CAF is expected to make another contribution which may aid small and medium enterprises currently stymied by foreign exchange woes. Requena said,

“The other one that we are executing right now is the Eximbank. Here the deal is with SMEs. The project is for SMEs and especially SMEs related to exports. We are going to disperse US$20 million (before the end of) this year.”

This followed the announcement of two recent projects for which CAF will offer US$250 million to support two critical resilience and sustainability initiatives in T&T—resilient road infrastructure and resilient educational infrastructure, which included the improvement of Spanish as a foreign language in this country.

“What we do in fiscal-support type of loans is we expect the country to fulfil some conditions, depending on the type of the loan. Sometimes it’s for infrastructure. Sometimes it could be for roads. Sometimes it could be for health, for example. So in the case of health, we need the country to comply with international regulations. If the country fulfils that, we give the money to the Ministry of Finance for that type of project. But, for example, we just approved a loan for education.”

The bank’s work in T&T has encouraged other Caribbean countries to sign on.

“(The relationship is) amazing. Because what we do here, other countries see and they say, we want to have the same thing. And they asked the government (of T&T), ‘what’s your experience?’ And they like us. So that’s the reason why we are growing in the region.

“Now, we have the Bahamas as a new member country, and Dominica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda coming and others are coming. I think that what we did in Trinidad, was a very good example. That’s one of the reasons why they want to be part of the bank,” said Requena, who said the bank’s work would vary based on the needs of these states.

The bank is currently looking closely at the development of T&T green energy, while also lending technical expertise to further encourage the diversification of the Trinidad and Tobago economy.

“We are not going to do exactly the same thing. But (T&T) serves as an example of the good things that CAF can do, because we are not only dealing with loans, which are important. Part of our job as a development bank is to give loans, but we also give technical assistance and what we do here—for example, we have a project on green energy that we are working on—we want to do that in other countries of the region as well. If this works here, we are going to adapt and use it in other countries.”

CAF is a multilateral financial institution whose mission is to support sustainable development of shareholder countries and regional integration. It serves the public and private sectors, providing multiple financial products and services to a broad client portfolio, of the governments of the shareholder States, financial institutions and public and private companies. Primary activities encompass acting as a financial intermediary, channeling resources from industrialized nations to the region, funding development of productive infrastructure, promoting overall development, fostering trade and investments and supporting the business sector.

With its main headquarters in Caracas CAF shareholders include 22 countries and 13 private banks in the region- Argentina, The Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Selected list of major CAF projects in T&T:

• SWAP for resilient road infrastructure: US$ 150 million
• Programme for the Construction of Data Centre: US$ 35 million
• Educational Infrastructure and Spanish Learning Programme: US$ 100 million
• Drainage Loan: US$ 40 million(2025)
• Eximbank: US$35 million loan

TT holds External Debt in September 2024 of TTD 36,737.7million (USD 5,248.24 million, or USD 5.248 billon). The Net Asset Value of the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund was USD5761.3 million (USD5.763 billion). In the aftermath of a long-delayed State of Emergency triggered by 624 homicides and confirmation by Prime Minister Keith Rowley of his plan to resign as leader of the regime and the PNM before his term legally expires, with a general election due by November 2025, the potential to destabilise the petrostate grows among a beleaguered populace and opponents as pessimism abounds in the wake of threats to security, shortages and rising prices.

US can put troops in Trinidad and Tobago

– agreement 12 December

Commander of US Southern Command Admiral Alvin Holsey and Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds signed the Southcom Human Rights Initiative at the Diplomatic Centre, Port of Spain on December 10, witnessed by the Prime Minister and US Ambassador Candace Bond. –

National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds signed five agreements with the US on December 10, two of which can allow the US Department of Defense (DoD) to deploy forces to Trinidad and Tobago in the event of a “conflict” in Venezuela.

In a statement on December 10, the US Embassy said the Prime Minister, Hinds, Energy Minister Stuart Young, Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne held talks with US diplomatic and navy officials on security, energy, cybersecurity and human rights.

Rowley met US ambassador Candace Bond and Commander of the US Southern Command (Southcom) Adm Alvin Holsey at the Diplomatic Centre, Port of Spain. The embassy said the group celebrated the successful conclusion of negotiations on five agreements, including a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA); the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative Technical Assistance Field Team (CBSI-TAFT); and the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA).

Bond and Holsey also congratulated Rowley on TT’s accession to the Treaty of San José and the Southcom Human Rights Initiative.

Bond said, “TT’s leadership in implementing this framework for security co-operation demonstrates its potential as the cornerstone of peace and security in the Caribbean and has opened the door to unprecedented and unequalled opportunities for defence co-operation between TT and the US.”

Holsey added, “The US is committed to providing expertise and resources to enhance TT’s security capabilities, and these agreements deepen strategic collaboration on a host of issues.”

The embassy said the SOFA “will facilitate interoperability between the two countries’ armed forces.”

Dodging a question via WhatsApp on the importance of the agreements to TT, evasive Rowley replied,

“Please speak to the minister who signed the agreements for the Government and the people of TT.”

Calls and messages to Hinds and Browne went unanswered.

A December 2022 diplomatic note on the US Embassy’s website details TT’s agreement to SOFA, starting in 2013. The note said the 2013 SOFA was due to expire on January 1, 2023.

“The Embassy has the further honour to propose to the Government of the Republic of TT that the Government of the US and the Government of the Republic of TT agree to further extend the 2013 SOFA, without any other changes, for an additional two years from its expiration date of January 1, 2023, to January 1, 2025.”

The Foreign Affairs Ministry’s response also formed part of the diplomatic note.

“The Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs of the Republic of TT is pleased to confirm that the proposal set forth in the Embassy’s note is acceptable to the Government of the Republic of TT and that the Embassy’s note together with this note in reply shall constitute an agreement between the two Governments which shall enter into force on the date of this note.”

In its December 10 release, the US Embassy said, “The SOFA is an agreement which allows for military-to-military engagement. The US and TT have had a SOFA agreement since 2007. The new SOFA will bring the agreement in line with US and TT laws and will have no expiration date unless renegotiated.”

Cabinet approved the SOFA at its meeting on December 7 and the document was sent to attorneys for the DoD, the National Security Minister, the Attorney General and the TT Defence Force for final “scrubbing” before being signed on December 10.

This agreement will take effect on January 1, 2025.

The renegotiations included clarification of the language used in the agreement, including that it allows for civilian employees of the DoD to qualify for immunities. The agreement does not cover contractors employed with the DoD. It also makes allowances for DoD law-enforcement officers to carry firearms while deployed in TT and for driver’s permits for those employees.

It also makes allowances for US military commanders to discipline US servicemen deployed to TT in TT.

US troops can be stationed in TT

It also allows for US troop deployment to TT in times of natural disasters. In the event of a conflict on TT’s doorstep in Venezuela, the US can deploy troops to TT for a possible response by enacting the SOFA. As the southernmost country in the Caribbean, TT is mere miles away from Venezuela. Its closest point is Cedros.

The ACSA agreement, also signed on December 10, provides a similar opportunity for US troops to be deployed to TT to respond to conflicts in Venezuela.

The US Embassy said ACSA “is a formal logistics mechanism that allows the US Department of Defense to exchange logistic support, supplies, and services directly between eligible countries and international organisations.”

Both agreements cut red tape that could slow a US deployment.
In the event that USA is contemplating a deployment, it still must seek permission from the TT Government to do so.

The January 20, 2025, inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump is not expected to affect the agreements and either country can decide to pull out at any time.

Guyana has also signed a SOFA with the US.

While Newsday has not seen the current agreement, the SOFA signed in 2006 between Guyana and the US allows for DoD military and civilian employees to be granted status equal to US Embassy staff; be allowed to enter and leave Guyana with their US Government IDs; have their driver’s permits – issued in the US – accepted for use in Guyana; be authorised to wear their US-issued uniforms in Guyana; and be permitted to bring weapons into Guyana based on their orders, among other provisions.

“The embassy proposes that both governments shall waive any and all claims (other than contractual claims) against each other for personal injury to or death of their military or civilian personnel, or for damage, loss or destruction of the other’s military property arising out of the activities covered by this agreement,” the SOFA said.

Over the past year, tensions between Guyana and Venezuela have been high after the Nicolas Maduro government proposed and passed a referendum to occupy the disputed Essequibo region.

Maduro gave oil companies operating offshore Guyana three months to wrap up operations and there were numerous reports that Venezuelan troops were seen organising on the Venezuelan/Guyana border.

In the face of growing concern of instability in the region, Maduro and Guyana’s president Dr Irfaan Ali met in St Vincent and the Grenadines on December 14, 2023, and agreed to avoid the use of any force and not to escalate tensions in their dispute over the Essequibo.

On July 28, Maduro faced the polls in the Venezuelan presidential elections, which he has been accused of stealing from Opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. The winner of the election will be sworn in in January 2025 for a six-year term.

US backs Maduro’s opponent for presidency

A November 27 White House press background briefing by senior administration officials, focusing on Maduro’s claim to victory in the election, outlined steps by the US to increase pressure on Maduro ahead of the four-month mark of the election. A senior official said,

“...It was an election in which the Venezuelans voted resoundingly to make Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia the president-elect. In the months since July 28, we have given Nicolas Maduro and his representatives every opportunity to do the right thing and we have incentivised the possibility of democratic steps. Instead, Maduro and his representatives decided to use violent repression and to seize power at all costs.

This is not something the US will stand for, and nor will other countries in the region stand for this. Therefore, the US has taken steps to increase pressure against Maduro and his representatives who are responsible for the electoral fraud that took place on July 28 and afterwards and the brutal repression that we’ve seen in the last few months.”

Those steps included the sanction of 21 security and cabinet-level officials who lead the national guard, police, intelligence service and militia and are aligned with Maduro.

“All of these entities are part of Maduro’s security apparatus and are responsible for violently repressing peaceful protesters and carrying out arbitrary detentions. We have also included Maduro-aligned officials who have been responsible for anti-democratic acts.”

New restrictions were also placed on Maduro alliance officials who have undermined the electoral process in Venezuela and are responsible for acts of repression.

“The steps that we are taking today build on multiple actions that we have taken already to hold the current and former Venezuelan officials accountable for undermining democracy in Venezuela and to hold them accountable for violating human rights. These actions will follow on similar sanctions and visa restrictions that we announced last September.”

The official said the US government had placed sanctions on 180 Venezuelan officials and 100 Venezuelan entities.

Press freedom controversy

13 December

Embattled Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley categori­cally denied that Trinidad and Tobago signed any agreement to allow the Uni­ted States to place troops here in the event of conflict in Venezuela.

Amid widespread turmoil and escalating anger, the sarcastic septuagenarian censured Newsday for its leader headlined, “US can put Troops in TT: Govern­ment signs agreement as White House ups pressure on Maduro”, telling media it was “irresponsibility of the worst kind” based on “in­­competence, malice or both”.

After 45 years as a bureaucrat, tricky Rowley claimed signing of the Southcom Human Initiative had absolutely nothing to do with any Venezuelan issue and had everything to do with the relationship between Trinidad and Tobago and the United States, “which is a very good one”.

Newsday quo­ted the US Embassy as saying the Prime Minister met Ambassador Candace Bond and Admiral Alvin Holsey at the Diplomatic Centre and the group celebrated successful conclusion of nego­tiations on five agreements, including a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), the Carib­bean Basin Security Initia­tive Technical Assistance Field Team and the Acquisi­tion and Cross-Servicing Agreement.

Accusing the newspaper of acting against the national interest, the Tobago-born geologist said: “If I don’t as Prime Minister denounce this irresponsibility, if you were in Venezuela, what would you think?

And if you are in Venezuela, where Trinidad and Tobago is negotiating with you all kinds of important matters but making its territory available for American incursions, in the event that it is determined that Venezuela has instability, what would you think?”

Asked later if he was referring to the Dragon gas deal being negotia­ted between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela which the article could hurt, the irate alumnus of UWI said he was referring to the relationship…

…“that we worked hard to foster, to tender and that we rely on”. Dragon Gas is deemed critical for future economic growth. As the end of his 9-year reign looms, the fugitive leader lamented Caricom concern “because it is so far from what Trinidad and Tobago represents and has represented in recent years, months and days”.

“I cannot understand who in Trinidad and Tobago would see it fit to publish a bold banner against the background of a picture of myself, Admiral Holsey, Minister Hinds and the US Ambassador.

“I don’t want to call this mischief. I want to call it dangerous incompetence, to tell the world that we have entered into an arrangement, to tell Venezuela that we entered an arrangement, to tell Guyana and Caricom that this picture (on the is representative of an action we have taken with the head of SouthCom Admi­ral Holsey, about us creating an environment where the United States can place troops in Trinidad and Tobago to respond to instability in Venezuela.

“Whoever did this is not acting in the interest of Tri­nidad and Tobago…I am so disturbed about this. This is not a joke. To promise to make troops available in your territory where there are issues in another territory is a major matter in international affairs…. And if the editors here don’t understand the implications of what they have done, all I can say to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, you know who your real threats are.”

Riled by the report, the contemptuous bigwig said security agencies in T&T rely heavily on the cooperation that they have with the United States. TT was the first country Holsey visited after becoming head of SouthCom and he discussed threats from South American criminals and assistance in dealing with human rights, human trafficking and the environment.

T&T law enforcement officers participated in training and the use of other valuable instruments, equipment and intelli­gence from Delaware but none of that had anything to do with any potential for placement of US troops in Trinidad and Tobago, with a view to deal with any issue in Venezuela.

“That is a normal day’s work in Trinidad and Tobago. Why would that be transmitted on the front page of a newspaper, misrepresenting the fact that this has to do with Trinidad and Tobago making its territory available when, in fact, it is the opposite. We don’t countenance a breach of the peace in the region and we will not facilitate any such thing. And our actions speak louder than our words.”

The secretive head of government said assertions in the article ran contrary to eve­rything that T&T has done and he was in Barbados with the Americans days ago, when the minister in the Office of the Prime Minister was in Caracas with the Venezuela leaders.

“Caricom as a unit cover and protect ourselves by standing on the defence of Caricom, the Caribbean as a zone of peace, and we are not supporting any military excursion. We have a very good relationship with Venezuela and with the United States. We operate as an independent country, free to make our own foreign policy and treat with our associates as our national interest dictates.”

 

 

 

HoG excoriates TT Newsday

A vigorous advocate for the Caribbean as a zone of peace, the TT Prime Minister eschewxs this virtue in relations with reporters, castigating them on December 12 at a media conference. In a fiery eruption, the volatile volcanologist scorched a newspaper over a leading article reporting agreements to facilitate co-operation between Trinidad and Tobago and the US Department of Defense. The sardonic PM savaged the suggestion that certain provisions would allow deployment of US troops here in the event of a “conflict” with Venezuela.

“We are not supporting anybody’s military excursion. It is the opposite. We don’t countenance, one, a breach of the peace in the region and, two, we will not facilitate any such thing.”

Yet he failed to contradict clauses permitting the arrival of US personnel in the measures signed.

Newsday insisted, “We stand by our story. If the PNM leader has a job to do, so do we. The facts are that on December 10, when these agreements were signed, Dr Rowley convened no conference. Nor did he or any member of his Cabinet do so on December 11.”

In standard cynical style, he did not even intend to communicate on December 12 but a headline he loathed forced his hand.

“Yet, given his own belief that the matters were so grave, so consequential to the interests of TT and given his own assertion that the media were “chained up” in the past, it was incumbent on him to address the facts long before this week.”

Instead, he dismissed the reporter with his trademark derisive runaround, sneering “Please speak to the minister who signed the agreements.” Messages to that minister went unanswered, as usual.

“We need no tutorial to understand this: while the arrangements renewed are long-standing, the context in which they exist has dramatically changed. Donald Trump won the US presidential election. Venezuela held an illegitimate and undemocratic election.”

While deploying forces against Ukraine, Russia supports Nicolás Maduro, threatening to annex territory of Guyana. The unpopular PM believes TT’s position should be clear, aware the world has transformed since he entered Whitehall and in the wake of the autocrat Eric Williams.

The ideal of peace is more fragile than ever.

“We hope the suggestion that this country will not be a US base will never have to be tested. But to pressure the media into censoring reporting to appease others – at home or abroad – is to cede our rights without a single soldier being deployed. “

The State of Emergency has indeed suspended constitutional rights of citizens amid rampant criminality, empowered by a corrupt moribund regime lacking leadership and accountability.

 

 

UNC queries SOFA agreements

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar questioned the signing of five agreements between Trinidad and Tobago and the US, two of which could permit the US to station troops in TT in the event of a “conflict” in neighbouring Venezuela. She urged the government to make the details of the agreements public.

Before a meeting at UNC headquarters in Chaguanas on December 12, she told media she was in the dark about the agreements, like most of the population, after the suspicious Prime Minister criticised media at a news conference.

She said government should make copies of the agreements so we can be “fully aware of what it is we signed.” She asked whether the agreements were signed with “the (outgoing) Biden administration or the (incoming ) Trump administration.” Should American soldiers be allowed on TT soil, could they be held liable under the law if they injure any citizen?

“We don’t know and therefore it may be premature. I find it preposterous that you have a new (US) government coming in and you are signing documents.”

She recalled that Caricom leaders met a US Congressional delegation comprising US Democrats in Barbados to discuss matters of mutual interest. She promised the UNC would fix the matter after it won the next general election.

She also asked Rowley to say when he would give approval for Caricom election observers to come to TT.

In the House of Representatives on December 11, Rowley said he expects to receive a letter to sign to invite those observers to TT for the election.

While she was “cautiously optimistic”, Persad-Bissessar repeated her call for “international observers” to come for the election.

On December 10, the US Embassy said Rowley, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, Energy Minister Stuart Young, Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne held talks with US diplomatic and navy officials on security, energy, cyber-security and human rights. Rowley met US ambassador Candace Bond and Commander of US Southern Command (Southcom) Adm. Alvin Holsey at the Diplomatic Centre.

The group celebrated the successful conclusion of negotiations on five agreements, including a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA); the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative Technical Assistance Field Team (CBSI-TAFT); and the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA). Bond and Holsey also congratulated Rowley on TT’s accession to the Treaty of San José and the Southcom Human Rights Initiative.

Bond said, “TT’s leadership in implementing this framework for security co-operation demonstrates its potential as the cornerstone of peace and security in the Caribbean, and has opened the door to unprecedented and unequalled opportunities for defence co-operation between TT and the US.”

Holsey added, “The US is committed to providing expertise and resources to enhance TT’s security capabilities, and these agreements deepen strategic collaboration on a host of issues.”

The embassy said the SOFA “will facilitate interoperability between the two countries’ armed forces.”

A December 2022 diplomatic note on the US Embassy’s website details TT’s agreement to SOFA, starting in 2013. which was due to expire on January 1, 2023.

“The Embassy has the further honour to propose to the Government of the Republic of TT that the Government of the US and the Government of the Republic of TT agree to further extend the 2013 SOFA, without any other changes, for an additional two years from its expiration date of January 1, 2023, to January 1, 2025.”

The Foreign Affairs Ministry’s response also formed part of the diplomatic note.

“The Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs of the Republic of TT is pleased to confirm that the proposal set forth in the Embassy’s note is acceptable to the Government of the Republic of TT and that the Embassy’s note together with this note in reply shall constitute an agreement between the two Governments which shall enter into force on the date of this note.”

In its December 10 statement, the US Embassy said, “The SOFA is an agreement which allows for military-to-military engagement. The US and TT have had a SOFA agreement since 2007. The new SOFA will bring the agreement in line with US and TT laws and will have no expiration date unless renegotiated.”

In May 2013, the Express reported the then People’s Partnership (PP) government led by Persad-Bissessar had ratified a SOFA agreement between the US and TT as confirmed by a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister at the time. In that statement, Persad-Bissessar sought to assure the public that the agreement made no provision for the establishment of a US military base in TT.

“This SOFA cannot be the basis for the establishment of an American military base in TT because it contemplates the temporary presence of US personnel in TT. No provisions are made or contemplated for the grant of facilities and areas to be utilised by the US military on the territory of TT.”

 

 

 

Behind the SOFA

Paolo Kernahan

Feuding with the media, yet again, TT PM Rowley’s raging at a news conference over a discomfiting headline was another reminder of his inability to self-regulate. Lost in the melee was the clarity the media sought on the offending subject.

This administration has proven time and again its conviction that the cure for poor communication is more confusion. The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is one of two agreements that would facilitate, with permission from the TT government, the hosting of US troops here should there be a conflict with neighbouring Venezuela.

Understandably, this would inflame the PM’s unstable reactor, given that Venezuela is the basket in which we’ve placed all our eggs. He had every opportunity to head off the “offending” headline, but studiously avoided this.

The signing of SOFA (and others agreements) was a photo opportunity. This event should have been a presser at which journalists could have asked for details of these agreements. That was the first error of omission.

The follow-up texted question may have been a soft opener for others. That entirely innocuous overture asked the PM to comment on the significance of these agreements for TT.

Rowley was present at the signing so it was appropriate for questions to be addressed to him. In his typically brusque fashion, the PM reportedly responded that the question should be directed to the minister who signed the agreement.

That was the second opportunity to clear up any likely misunderstanding (if indeed there was one). The minister, Fitzgerald Hinds, couldn’t be reached for clarification on the clause. So the PM then held a news conference ostensibly meant to clear up a mess of his own making.

The clause or clauses in the agreements to which the headline drew reference either exist or do not. Rowley pulled the pin on some tangential grenade about TT’s role in promoting and brokering peace in the region – none of this had any bearing on the provisions in the agreements.

A reporter at that briefing displayed uncommon valour in the face of blistering, unhinged attacks from the PM. The attack strategy usually works, with reporters shrinking in their seats as the Prime Minister resorts to higher volume to counter scrutiny of his administration.

It didn’t work this time. Rowley referred to the way the reporter “chose to interpret” the information. As the reporter correctly pointed out, this wasn’t about interpretation. Throughout their tortuous exchange, the PM didn’t deny the existence of the clauses in the agreement, saying only that “his government would not support any plans by the US to place troops here in the event of a conflict with Venezuela.”

That doesn’t answer the question. Furthermore, government supporters pointed out that Kamla Persad-Bissessar, in signing similar agreements during her term in office, told media, “There are no plans for the establishment of a US base here.”

Who said anything about a base? Nowhere in any news coverage of the subject was a US base mentioned. It’s possible to host US troops in a country without there being a formal base. Dr Rowley was determined to portray the headline as an erroneous and mischievous interpretation of the clause or clauses in the agreements. If the clauses don’t exist, then the PM could easily have said the media published outright falsehoods, but that didn’t happen.

The paper was right to have singled out this aspect of the agreements. It was the only newsworthy bit of the signing ceremony, doubly so in the context of enduring geopolitical tensions between the US and Venezuela – considered a rogue state by Washington and the receptacle into which all our hopes and dreams have been disposed.

However, the paper could have sought a legal opinion or that of an expert in foreign affairs to add further context to the story. Whether TT is committed to the preservation of peace in the region is moot. When the US dictates you obey. Why sign a document which opens the door to potential violations of a peace with which you so lavishly shroud yourself? Dedication to peace in the region but war at home was the only clarity to emerge from that news conference.

The anti-American founder of the ruling party of T&T was a fugitive from US justice and ousted Americans from their Chaguaramas Naval Base which offered lucrative local employment and would have deterred armed gangs now tormenting society with heinous homicides and other crimes.

The anti-British Caricom chair is determined to extract funds from British taxpayers for her debt-ridden region, riddled with rampant criminality. Leaders hijacked the Commonwealth Conference and harassed the UK and UN for reparations instead of repatriation to domiciles with economic potential.

America left the large United States Navy Naval Base Trinidad in 1988. In 1940 the US leased the entire Chaguaramas peninsula of 7,940 acres, including five islets in the Gulf of Paria, to build the tactical Destroyer Base to support ships fighting and patrolling the Battle of the Atlantic and the Battle of the Caribbean. during World War II.

Later 3,800 acres were added with 1,200 acres developed. Two major land bases were built – Chaguaramas Naval Base and Tucker Naval Base. Carenage, Chaguaramas, Teteron, and Scotland Bays were centres of naval activity. In 1944, the Trinidad and Tobago Government leased Macqueripe Bay to the United States military.

Sheltered by the mountains of the Northern Range, deepwater Macqueripe Bay on the Caribbean Sea was ideal as a US submarine station during World War II and until 1972 was a secluded resort for families of American officers. The Gulf of Paria provided major fleet anchorage. Carenage Bay became a major port with a naval air station and a seaplane base. Teteron Bay became a major navy depot.

Chaguaramas was home to an OMEGA navigation station and a radar tracking station for the Apollo missions It supported the United States Army Air Forces, US Coast Guard, US Marine Corps and US Army.

Naval Base Trinidad was a US Naval Advance Base built to protect South American trade routes and shipping lanes to and from the Panama Canal from U-boat attacks, by sea and air. Fueling, loading and unloading cargo ships, the base became a repair depot, with auxiliary floating drydocks for boats and ships in the field. Naval Base Trinidad was commissioned on June 1, 1941 with 135,000 troops at its peak and patrol aircraft and ships to control the Caribbean Sea.

Over 10,000 Trinidadians were hired for the construction projects and many enjoyed civilian employment.. The US Army built two major airfields, Waller Field and Carlsen Field, used by the Navy as bases for aircraft carrier fighter aircraft and transport services. Carlsen Field became Carlsen Air Force Base, a US Navy lighter-than-air base in 1943 when blimps were added to the patrol duties, with a blimp hangar, a mooring post and a helium purification plant Major construction was completed by May 1944.

Pointe-à-Pierre refinery was key to winning the war. The large Trinidad base and training center operated after the war. Troops departed in 1967, the base closed in 1977 and the US relinquished the lease on the 11,740 acres of land in 1988.

In 1942 Piarco was used by the United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy air squadrons as a transport airfield and for anti submarine patrol flights over the Caribbean Sea.. Local citizens were employed at the Bel Air Hotel.

Armed with an Oxford University DPhil, fleeing US justice after his first wife sued for divorce, the nationalist decoloniser Eric WIlliams, founded the People’s National Movement in 1956, which continues to wreak havoc in Trinidad and Tobago by his successors driven by megalomania, racial envy, power lust and greed.

Requested by pan-Caribbean atavistic agitators, encouraged by the UK, the West Indies Federation was formed in 1958 to create a single state independent from Britain .

In 1959, Washington believed the relatively moderate quality of nationalism in the emerging W.I. Federation made it unlikely that agitation for US withdrawal from the US Naval Station at Chaguaramas or other sites will assume critical proportions.

It expected considerable pressure, both before and after independence, for modification of the 1941 US–UK Leased Bases Agreement through new arrangements taking account of West Indian interests. Dr. Eric Williams, the aggressive Chief Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, remains unreconciled to US retention of the Chaguaramas Base. If he is dominant in the federal government when sovereignty is attained, the US base position will certainly be brought under heavy pressure. Although advantages accruing from the presence of US installations and the economic benefits of association with the US are generally recognized, the controversial PNM founder scarred by domestic dysfunction, was consumed by anti-British ideology and longed to control the West Indies region.

The principal US military facility in the territory of the W. I. Federation is the naval station at Chaguaramas in Trinidad, which is in a partial maintenance status. Other facilities in the area are, for the most part, connected with the Long Range Proving Ground, the Navy Sound Search System, and the LORAN program.

The presence of US defense installations in the area was provided for initially by the “destroyers for bases” deal of 1941, under which the UK granted the US 99-year leases on base sites in the Western Hemisphere. The 1941 agreement is still the basis of the US position in Trinidad and Antigua. US rights in St. Lucia are now controlled by the 1941 agreement and a 1956 extension of the Long Range Proving Ground Agreement; in Barbados by the 1956 Oceanographic Research Station Agreement. Of the 65,000 acres (approximately 100 square miles) leased to the US in the Federation, only about one-quarter is actively used by the US. Most of the remainder has been turned over to the control of local authorities for certain restricted uses, but is subject to a unilateral US right of recall.

The advent of the W. I. Federation and the prospect that it would be granted independence within the Commonwealth by 1963 gave rise to local pressures for renegotiation of US military rights in the area, if only in recognition of West Indian sovereignty. The West Indians had no effective voice in the 1941 base sites agreement and its implementation. They desire some recognition of their interest, ranging from a symbolic display of their flag to such material concessions as the unqualified release of unused land and some quid pro quo for that retained. These issues are negotiable, especially considering the need for and desire to obtain US assistance in the economic development of the West Indies. There is no desire to exclude US military facilities from West Indian territory, but only to get more for them in terms of recognition and material benefits.

The one intractable element in this situation is the demand that the US relocate the US Naval Station which is now at Chaguaramas to permit use of the site as the capital of the Federation. The US considered alternative sites for the naval station but none is as satisfactory as Chaguaramas and the cost of relocation would be prohibitive. The US therefore stood on its rights and refused to give up Chaguaramas but in 1958 indicated its willingness to reconsider its base requirements some time within the next 10 years.

The West Indian people and politicians would have been pleased to have Chaguaramas as the site of their capital, but, in general, are not now disposed to press the issue to the point of antagonizing the US and jeopardizing US economic aid. The federal government accepted deferment of the question when it realized that otherwise it would be defeated in parliament and overthrown on the Chaguaramas issue. This deferment was based on anticipation of US aid to the federal government. If satisfactory aid is not forthcoming, the issue is certain to be revived.

The threat to the US position at Chaguaramas is a long term and contingent one, depending largely on who is politically ascendant when the Federation achieves sovereignty as an independent Dominion. That could well be Dr. Eric Williams, Chief Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, the most effective of the younger West Indian politicians who remains unreconciled to US retention of the Chaguaramas base. Having fled US courts after deserting his family, his animus against the US is personal as well as political and this renders him extremely difficult to deal with.

If Williams is dominant in the federal government at the time sovereignty is attained, the US base position will certainly be brought under heavy pressure. Even as a leader of the opposition, he could be expected to keep the issue alive.

When the Standing Federation Committee (SFC) chose the Chaguaramas Naval Station as the site of the capital in Trinidad, Williams undertook an aggressive campaign to reclaim Chaguaramas and oust the Americans, who held a ninety-nine-year lease signed with Britain in 1941.

The promiscuous Williams argued that the Americans had no moral right to remain in Chaguaramas and the demand for their evacuation was not driven by anti-American sentiment, indicating he was willing to provide an alternative location in Trinidad.

Sadly and predictably, collapse of the Federation in 1962 led to independence from Britain and subjugation of the rural, agricultural, entrepreneurial British Indians, whose contribution was vital to the economy. Under an unethical authoritarian, they lost British citizenship and a monoculture hostile to diversity threatens their identity. Racist crimes of banditry, larceny, robbery, rape, kidnap, beheading and violence leading to suicide and emigration continue to the present. The current regime inflicted scandals on citizens and brought Trinidad to its knees in a nightmare of crime and chaos which will soon end.

 

 

Bermuda player becomes sole owner of FLNG unit

December 25, 2024, by Melisa Cavcic

Bermuda-headquartered owner and operator of liquefied natural gas (LNG) midstream infrastructure, Golar LNG secured ownership interests Seatrium and Black & Veatch held in a floating LNG (FLNG) unit, which enables it to take full ownership of the asset that recently lined up a 20-year assignment in Argentina.

As Golar LNG’s acquisition of Seatrium and Black & Veatch’s minority interests in the FLNG Hilli entails all third-party stakes in the asset, including 5.45% common units, 10.9% Series A shares, and 10.9% Series B shares, the transaction is equivalent to around 8% of the full FLNG capacity.

According to the Bermuda firm, the total consideration for the acquisitions is $90.2 million, of which $59.9 million is in equity and $30.3 million is a pro-rata share in the existing FLNG Hilli debt facility. The company’s full economic interest in the increased ownership of the FLNG Hilli will be effective from January 1, 2025.

Karl-Fredrik Staubo, Golar’s CEO, commented: “Golar is pleased to take full ownership of FLNG Hilli. The increased ownership will give immediate cash flow accretion and is expected to add approximately $0.5bn of adjusted EBITDA backlog. We would like to thank our long-term partners Seatrium and Black & Veatch as co-investors and we look forward to continue to work with both organizations in our ongoing and future FLNG growth ambitions.”

This FLNG is on contract with Perenco in Cameroon until July 2026, when it is expected to relocate to Argentina to start a 20-year job with Southern Energy, a consortium of natural gas producers in Argentina. The contract in the South American country remains subject to defined conditions precedent, including an export license, environmental assessment, and final investment decision (FID) by Southern Energy.

The $3 billion project will enable the FLNG Hilli to be installed in the San Matías Gulf, offshore Argentina’s Río Negro province, to export gas from the Vaca Muerta shale deposit in the Neuquén basin. The FID for the first phase of a potential multi-vessel project is expected to be taken in Q1 2025. Start-up of the project is slated for 2027. A few weeks ago, YPF came aboard this FLNG project, which is being co-developed by Golar LNG and Pan American Energy (PAE) in Argentinian waters.

 

 

 

 

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigns

6 January 2025, BBC

Under growing pressure from his own party, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced he will step down and end his nine-year stretch as leader.

He said he would stay on in office until his Liberal Party can choose a new leader, and that parliament would be prorogued – or suspended – until 24 March. Trudeau’s personal unpopularity had become an increasing drag on his party’s fortunes in advance of federal elections later this year. He told media,

“This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election. I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process.”

The president of the Liberal Party, Sachit Mehra, said a meeting of the board of directors would be held this week to begin the process of selecting a new party leader.

“Liberals across the country are immensely grateful to Justin Trudeau for more than a decade of leadership to our Party and the country. As Prime Minister, his vision delivered transformational progress for Canadians, including with the Canada Child Benefit and $10-a-day child care, Canada’s first-ever national climate plan, support that saved businesses and helped Canadians through a once in a generation global pandemic, and the establishment of dental care and universal pharmacare.”

Following Trudeau’s resignation, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said “nothing has changed. Every Liberal MP and Leadership contender supported EVERYTHING Trudeau did for 9 years, and now they want to trick voters by swapping in another Liberal face to keep ripping off Canadians for another 4 years, just like Justin.”

Trudeau, 53, had faced growing calls to quit from inside his Liberal Party, which ramped up in December when deputy prime minister and long-time ally Chrystia Freeland abruptly resigned, citing Trudeau’s perceived failure to not take seriously US President-elect Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs on Canadian goods.

In a public resignation letter, she accused Trudeau of not doing enough to address the “grave challenge” posed by Trump’s proposals.

Trump promised to impose a tax of 25% on imported Canadian goods – which economists have warned would significantly hurt Canada’s economy – unless the country takes steps to increase security on its shared border. Canada has since announced that it will implement sweeping new security measures along the country’s US border.

Trudeau said he had hoped Freeland would have continued in her post, “but she chose otherwise.”

Under Trudeau, the Liberal Party has governed as a minority party with the support of several smaller parties, but the prime minister has struggled to keep the coalition together while trying to fight high inflation and housing prices.

Following Freeland’s resignation, Trudeau lost the support of parties that had previously helped keep the Liberals in power – the Quebec nationalist party, Bloc Quebecois and the left-leaning New Democrats.

The largest opposition party, the Conservatives, maintained a significant two-digit lead over the Liberals in polls for months – suggesting that if a general election were held today, the Liberals could be in for a significant defeat. The Liberals have also lost a series of special elections in recent months, including in former party strongholds in Toronto and Montreal, underscoring the party’s political troubles.

Trudeau announced his intention to quit before his party’s national caucus meets on Wednesday. Liberals will now choose a new leader to take the party into the next election, which must be held on or before 20 October, although Trudeau’s resignation is likely to prompt calls for an earlier vote.

End of the Trudeau era

Trudeau is the son of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who dominated the country’s politics in the 1970s and ’80s. The younger Trudeau became prime minister after the Liberal Party won a sweeping majority in 2015 amid a promise to usher in a new, progressive era of “Sunny Ways”.

His record includes a commitment to gender equality in his cabinet, which continues to be 50% women; progress on reconciliation with Indigenous people in Canada; bringing in a national carbon tax; implementing a tax-free child benefit for families; and legalising recreational cannabis.

In recent years, clouds began to hang over Trudeau’s government, which weathered a series of often self-inflicted scandals, including a controversy over a deal with a Canadian firm facing corruption charges. In 2019 the Liberals lost their majority and have since governed as a minority party . A snap federal election called by Trudeau in September 2021 handed the Liberals another minority government, as voters expressed frustration at going to the polls during the pandemic. Vaccine mandates and other restrictions were met with fierce backlash by some Canadians, leading to the Freedom Convoy protests in early 2022. Trudeau eventually used unprecedented emergency powers to remove the protesters.

As Canada began to emerge from the pandemic, housing and food prices skyrocketed, and his government pulled back on ambitious immigration targets as public services began to show strain. By late 2024, Trudeau’s approval rating was at its lowest – just 22% of Canadians saying they thought he was doing a good job, according to one polling tracker.

 

 

 

Trump seeks merger with Canada

CBC News · : Jan 07,

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump told media in Florida he would use “economic force,” to merge Canada and the United States as it would be much “better for national security.” While in hegemony mode, he can include Guyana and Trinidad as states or Unincorporated Territories of the expanded USA to boost energy security and end the era of blackpower.