VZCZCXRO8160
PP RUEHDE RUEHGR
DE RUEHSP #0863/01 2021942
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 211942Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7130
INFO RUEHHH/OPEC COLLECTIVE
RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RHMCSUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT OF SPAIN 000863 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EPET ECIN PREL TD
SUBJECT: TRINIDAD/VENEZUELA CLOSER TO TREATY ON USE OF 
SHARED GAS RESERVES 
 
REF: (A) POS 295; (B) POS 263; (C) 05 POS 147 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1. (U) The June 19 edition of daily paper "Trinidad & 
Tobago Newsday" reported on a Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs release that addressed a future agreement 
between the governments of T&T and Venezuela on shared 
gas reserves.  Full text of the release follows in next 
paragraph. 
 
¶2. (U) Begin Text: 
 
MEDIA RELEASE 
------------------ 
 
The Governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela 
are one step closer to concluding agreements for the 
unitising of any hydrocarbon reserves that straddle the 
maritime boundary, in order to provide for the sharing 
of the costs and benefits of development by both 
countries and to ensure that such exploitation takes 
place in the most efficient and effective manner 
possible. 
 
At the Seventh Ordinary Meeting of the Steering 
Committee on the Unitisation of Cross-border 
Hyrdrocarbon Reservoirs, which was held recently in 
Port of Spain, significant advances were made in the 
drafting and examination of particular provisions of a 
Draft Framework Unitisation Treaty. 
 
The Treaty, which is to be signed by both countries, is 
being considered by the respective Energy Ministers and 
will also include a provision on local content. 
 
The document before the Energy Ministers also contains 
the Final Report of the Loran/Manatee Technical Working 
Group, which determined the volume of gas in place in 
the Loran/Manatee field and the respective allocations 
to Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. 
 
The Kapok/Dorado Technical Working Group is presently 
examining data on the Kapok/Dorado field that was 
recently exchanged by the two countries. 
 
The initiative of Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela for 
the unitisation of the cross-border reserves is an 
important element in the maximization of the value of 
the hydrocarbons, in the furtherance of regional 
integration and the enhancement of bilateral synergies 
to the mutual advantage of all parties concerned. 
 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
Tuesday July 18, 2006 
 
End Text. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Gerald Thompson, head of legal/maritime 
affairs at MFA, elaborated on the ministry's release in 
a July 20 follow up conversation with Econoff. 
Thompson said the Joint Steering Committee, comprising 
members of both governments, had met July 6-7 and 
received the report from Loran/Manatee gas reserve 
field working group.  The Loran/Manatee field, 
straddling the T&T/Venezuela border, lies some 55 miles 
off the southeast tip of Trinidad.  Thompson emphasized 
that the working group report, which determined field 
volume and country allocation, was notable for the fact 
that it "settled" a major point toward the conclusion 
of the unitization agreement.  The field working group 
for the other field -- Kapok/Dorado -- which lies 
closer to Trinidad along the shared border -- is 
continuing its assessments, Thompson said. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Thompson told us that the steering committee, 
which was established in the August 2003 Memorandum of 
Understanding between the T&T and Venezuelan 
governments, has a mandate to draft the bilateral 
treaty.  He predicted that the steering committee would 
finish drafting the treaty by the end of the year with 
the document then "presumably" going to each country's 
energy ministries for final review.  With 
representation from both governments on the committee, 
Thompson felt that there would be little need for 
further negotiation or discussion once that final draft 
was completed. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In a separate July 20 conversation, Dave 
 
PORT OF SP 00000863  002 OF 002 
 
 
Mohammed, ChevronTexaco Deputy Country Representative, 
told Econoff that he had been a member of the 
Loran/Manatee Technical Working Group.  Although saying 
he was bound by confidentiality, Mohammed noted that 
the T&T side of the working group included two Chevron 
officials, two from BG and a GOTT-appointed co-chair. 
The Venezuelan half also included a co-chair, two 
Venezuelan government members and two officials from 
the state-owned petroleum company, PDVSA.  Mohammed 
stated that the group worked "assiduously" over the 
past year and half, exchanging data from the outset. 
Since Chevron was not interested in the Kapok/Dorado 
field, the company was not involved in the other 
technical working group, he said. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶6. (U) While not a giant step forward, the two 
countries finally appear to have a text for energy 
ministers to review.  However tedious the work has been 
to this stage, the most difficult step remains - final 
blessing by PM Manning and Venezuelan President Chavez. 
Our soundings of the players involved in this process 
suggest that the Venezuelan president will make the 
decision personally for his country.  It is similarly 
likely that Manning will also take a key role in a 
review by the T&T Cabinet of such a commercially 
important agreement.  Meanwhile negotiations on the 
other block will surely take longer to complete - 
Kapok/Dorado lacks a common upstream company like 
ChevronTexaco, which was able to make the work on 
Loran/Manatee go more swiftly despite the field having 
been discovered more recently than Kapok/Dorado. 
 
SWEENEY