Young Says PNM Laid Groundwork for Coquina-Manakin Gas Development<\/p>\n
Former energy minister Stuart Young is challenging the Government\u2019s presentation of progress surrounding the Coquina-Manakin gas development, arguing that critical negotiations and approvals underpinning the project were undertaken during the former PNM administration.<\/p>\n
Young said he welcomed progress on the development but accused the current administration of attempting to take credit for work that had already been advanced before the change in government.<\/p>\n
During a detailed account of the project’s history, Young said approximately 66% of the combined field is represented by Manakin on the Trinidad and Tobago side, while Coquina represents approximately 33% on the Venezuelan side.<\/p>\n
Because the reservoirs cross the maritime boundary, Young explained that unitisation arrangements were necessary to facilitate development.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that a unitisation agreement involving Venezuela was signed in February 2015 but rejected suggestions that nothing meaningful occurred during the following decade.<\/p>\n
Young pointed to sanctions imposed on Venezuela in 2019 as a major obstacle to commercialising cross-border gas resources.<\/p>\n
He said the former PNM administration subsequently pursued approvals from the United States while continuing negotiations involving Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and energy companies.<\/p>\n
Young said discussions involving technocrats, BP, PDVSA and energy officials from both countries were taking place by March 2024.<\/p>\n
According to Young, US sanctions clearance was obtained for Coquina-Manakin in May 2024, followed by a 20-year exploration and production licence from Venezuela in July 2024.<\/p>\n
He further claimed that the former administration pursued a policy under which the National Gas Company would participate throughout the energy value chain.<\/p>\n
Young said this included securing a 20% interest for NGC on the Coquina side and beginning negotiations for a similar 20% interest in Manakin.<\/p>\n
According to Young, he met a senior BP executive in London in November 2024 and received agreement that Trinidad and Tobago, through NGC, would obtain a 20% interest in Manakin.<\/p>\n
He said completion was complicated by Repsol’s then-interest in Manakin and later by the revocation of the relevant OFAC licence in April 2025.<\/p>\n
Young claimed that a November 2024 Cabinet note under the PNM administration approved a BP-Repsol transaction connected to the development.<\/p>\n
He welcomed the reported completion of NGC’s 20% participation but maintained that the policy and negotiations originated under the former administration.<\/p>\n
Young nevertheless said progress on the project was positive for Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n
His central argument was that the current Government should acknowledge the work undertaken before it assumed office while disclosing the final commercial terms attached to Trinidad and Tobago’s participation.<\/p>\n
The chronology and account of negotiations were presented by Young and would require comparison with Cabinet records, company announcements and government documentation for independent verification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Young says PNM laid the groundwork for Coquina-Manakin and NGC\u2019s reported 20 percent interest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-trinidad-and-tobago"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}