Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro has criticized the US decision to issue licenses to countries and firms to begin extracting crude oil from Caracas without paying Venezuela.
In a broadcast, Maduro criticized Washington for exempting corporations doing business with sanctioned Venezuelan state firms from paying cash to his administration.
“They tell a country it can deal with Venezuela but cannot pay in dollars or any other currency. “That is colonialism,” Maduro added.
Trinidad and Tobago welcomed the US Treasury Department’s license to Port of Spain to develop a significant gas field in Venezuelan territorial seas on January 24.
“The United States government has today approved Trinidad and Tobago’s development of the Dragon gas field via an OFAC waiver from sanctions with detailed terms to be finalized,” Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley announced.
What this means is that the restrictions on the Dragon gas fields development are now lifted and all relevant parties can progress the plans to result in natural gas from Venezuela eventually flowing for the first time from these proven reserves to Trinidad and Tobago and then on to Caribbean, European, and other markets, bringing humanitarian benefits to the Venezuelan population and greater energy security to the Caribbean region.
Rowley noted that “still a lot more work to be done” as Venezuela has not officially stated its willingness to deal with Trinidad and Tobago.
The US authorization allows Trinidad and Tobago to restart conducting business with Venezuelan heavily sanctioned state-run oil major PDVSA, although the Maduro dictatorship in Caracas cannot receive cash payments from this transaction.
In his Thursday broadcast, President Maduro lambasted the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which awarded the licenses, for seeking to dictate how Venezuelan state and private enterprises do business.
It mocks sovereign nations. I urge American and Caribbean independent nations to reject this colonial model. “We won’t accept it,” he declared.
PDVSA found 4.2 trillion cubic feet (TCF) in the Dragon field on Venezuela’s maritime border with Trinidad. Over a decade ago, sanctions, lack of finance, and partners froze manufacturing.
