Minister Kevin Ramnarine replies to Sunday Guardian on Loran Manatee

ENERGY MINISTRY RESPONDS TO MATTERS RELATED TO VOTING RIGHTS FOR TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO IN RECENTLY SIGNED LORAN-MANATEE AGREEMENT

The Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs wishes to respond to the headline story in the Sunday Guardian dated September 29, 2013 which starts with the sentence:

“Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine has distanced himself from the negotiation process that allegedly led to an almost ten per cent drop in local voting rights over the cross-border Loran/Manatee bloc.”

The article went on to say:

Ramnarine has instead shifted responsibility for the negotiation to energy experts hired by his ministry. “The most professional and qualified public servants are at the helm of Energy and Foreign Affairs. It was they that negotiated the agreement…not the minister,” Ramnarine said in a text. “I am speaking about people like Selwyn Lashley and Ambassador Gerald Thompson,” he added.

Firstly, the Honourable Minister of Energy has not distanced himself from anything.

What the Minister sought to explain to the Guardian reporter was the fact that the negotiations were conducted by senior public servants who were very qualified and competent and that the negotiations are not conducted by Ministers. It is the Minister and Cabinet who make policy but it is public servants who conduct negotiations.

On the issue of the “an almost ten per cent drop in local voting rights”. This is misleading. The issue was first raised by MP Marlene McDonald in the House of Representatives on September 18th 2013. The Minister of Energy and Energy Affairs responded to Ms. McDonald’s claims on Monday September 23rd 2013 when he addressed the Senate. An extract from his speaking notes from that day was sent to the author of the Guardian article via email.

The facts of the matter are that the voting rights for the Directing Committee are apportioned according to title to hydrocarbons under both the Block 6 (Trinidad and Tobago) and Block 2 (Venezuela) Production Sharing Contracts.

The voting rights are apportioned as follows:

Under the concept and principle of production sharing, hydrocarbons are shared between the Government and the contractors. In the case of Trinidad and Tobago the 26.94% of the hydrocarbons in the Loran/ Manatee field which resides in our territorial waters is shared as follows:

Therefore from the table above if we add the percentages we get back to 26.94%. Therefore Trinidad and Tobago has not lost anything. This splitting of the 26.94% is determined by the terms of the Block 6 production sharing contract that was signed in 1974 and amended in 1993.

Right of Veto

It should be noted carefully that all decisions of the Directing Committee require a two-thirds majority. However all decisions are subject to the right of veto exercisable by the Governments of Trinidad and Tobago or the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela if either considers its sovereign interest may be affected. The interests of Trinidad and Tobago are therefore protected.

The Ministry of Energy and Energy again cautions that the sensationalizing of this Loran-Manatee matter and the accompanying misinformation has the potential to damage the relationship between this country and Venezuela as regards this particular Loran-Manatee matter.