Venezuela exports gas for the first time in its history to Trinidad and Tobago

This PDVSA release was published using machine translation.

Caracas.- In an event led by the executive vice president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, this Thursday, December 21, the first license for the extraction, production and export of gas in “Campo Dragon” was granted to the state-owned National Gas. Company (NGC) of Trinidad and Tobago in partnership with the Dutch company Shell.

The signing of this license between the Minister of Petroleum and President of PDVSA, Pedro Rafael Tellechea, and the Minister of Energy and Energy Industries of Trinidad and Tobago, Stuart Young, consolidates a strategic gas alliance of international scope.

The license has a duration of 30 years and will produce in the first phase about 185 million cubic feet of gas per day that will be transferred in gas pipelines to serve the petrochemical market and gas plants in Trinidad and Tobago.

After six years of work to finalize the project and achieve favorable conditions, Executive Vice President Rodríguez described as “extraordinary” the terms that the agreement established to advance the development of both countries.

Likewise, he highlighted that "for the first time Venezuela is going to produce and export gas." In his opinion, this agreement is “a good example of what relations of cooperation, friendship, and brotherhood between our countries should be.”

Trinidadian Minister of Energy Young expressed his satisfaction with the agreement reached by highlighting that they received “with great gratitude the license to produce the gas” and recognized the commitment of both countries to make this process a reality.

For Venezuela, this project implies a leap towards diversification of its energy export matrix, within the framework of the development of offshore capabilities. “Campo Dragon” strategically reinserts the country into the gas-based energy market.

The hydrocarbon policy promoted by President Nicolás Maduro Moros, based on repositioning Venezuela as a gas exporter, takes place simultaneously with the process of certification of gas reserves, which could place the country as the fourth largest reserve in the world.