Oil from the revived PetroCaribe Initiative arrived this morning (October 22) in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) from Venezuela.

A cargo ship docked at Lowmans Bay, St Vincent carrying 23,000 barrels of oil from Venezuela under the concessionary oil accord.

The MV Inmaculada arrived at the PetroCaribe dock early this morning, discharging the fuel, a process which will take about two days to be completed.

FUEL TO BE USED BY VINLEC

This is the first shipment of oil to SVG from Venezuela since the United States imposed economic sanctions on the South American nation in 2019, ending its PetroCaribe arrangement with several Caribbean and Latin American countries, including St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and Jamaica.

The fuel will mainly be used by the St Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC) in the generation of electricity.

Petrocaribe is an oil accord extended in 2005 by the late Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, in which oil was sold to Latin American and Caribbean states under concessionary terms but fell apart in later years as a result of plummeting Venezuelan crude output and US political pressure.

SVG has since revived its PetroCaribe arrangement with Caracas while other Caribbean countries are looking at reviving their participation in the deal as well. It was reported earlier that the Jamaican Government is contemplating reviving its place in the concessionary oil initiative.

However, Robert Morgan, minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for information, told journalists during a post-Cabinet press briefing on October 12 that no discussion has taken place on the matter.

“I’m unaware of such engagement. No discussion has taken place in Cabinet as it relates to that,” Morgan had said.