Trinidad and Guyana sign energy agreement

GEORGETOWN, September 20, 2018 – Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana will collaborate on energy industry development under an MoU signed Wednesday by the countries’ heads of state, local media reported.

Prime Minister Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago met with Guyanese President David Granger in Georgetown to sign an agreement that will see the two parties co-operate on E&P; exchange knowledge and information regarding regulatory issues, resource management and technology; promote technical training and capacity building; develop HSE and local content policies; jointly develop projects and more.

“The MoU is a means of benefitting from Trinidad and Tobago’s advice, their experience and expertise that they have built up over a long time,” President Granger said at a press conference after the meeting.

The agreement comes as Trinidad and Tobago experiences difficulties in its own industry, with falling hydrocarbons reserves and production, as well as the recent decision to shutter NOC Petrotrin’s Pointe-à-Pierre refinery. Some have expressed concern that the island nation is looking to Guyana as a silver bullet for its current energy woes.

“There’s nothing in the MoU which seeks to harm the interests of one state or the other; there’s no sell-out,” President Granger said. “There were fears that Guyana would give away the family jewels, but that is not true. It is simply a means of collaborating, not only in production, but in marketing, in gas, in treating oil spills and [working with] multinational corporations.”

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