Durrant Pate/Contributor

Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) is announcing that the country has been issued with two United States General licences, under American law, for certain oil and gas activities in Venezuela and along their shared maritime border.

These licences provide what is described as “a clear and structured legal framework” for T&T to operate in Venezuela’s oil and gas market.

In making the announcement, T&T’s Prime Minister, Kamla Persad Bissessar in a statement said that “as a longstanding close partner of the United States, Trinidad and Tobago views this development as an important opportunity to deepen hemispheric energy cooperation, strengthen regional stability, and reinforce trusted commercial ties.”

Persad-Bissessar disclosed that T&T will proceed in full compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, “and in keeping with our commitment to transparency and sound governance”. According to the licences, “any payment of oil or gas taxes or royalties to the government of Venezuela, PdVSA or any PdVSA entity must be paid to the Foreign Government Deposit Funds or any other account as instructed by the US Department of Treasury”. 

Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., better known as PdVSA, is the state-owned oil and gas company of Venezuela. The licences to T&T strictly prohibit, “payment terms that are not commercially reasonable, involve debt swaps or payments in gold, or are denominated in digital currency, digital coin or digital tokens issued by, for, or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela”. 

Following the United States military incursion into Venezuela last month and the detention of its President, Nicolas Maduro and his wife on drug and illegal weapons charges, Washington announced that it would be running the South American country for the foreseeable future. 

Last April, Washington revoked the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) licenses that had permitted the Caribbean twin island republics to develop the Dragon and Manakin-Cocuina natural gas fields in partnership with Venezuela. 

The licences had allowed multinational energy giants Shell and BP, along with Trinidad’s state-owned National Gas Company, to develop offshore gas fields near the Venezuelan maritime border. The Dragon field alone holds an estimated four trillion cubic feet of gas, with first exports initially slated for 2026. 

T&T had already begun paying over one million US dollars per year in taxes to Venezuela for the expected 20-year Dragon project. However, the move by Washington had effectively frozen the deal, citing concerns over Venezuela’s failure to restore democratic norms and manage illegal migration.

However, by October 2025, a new, revised six-month OFAC license was granted to T&T, valid until April 2026, allowing for renewed negotiations on the Dragon gas project under new, strict, tiered conditions.