VZCZCXYZ0007
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSP #0005/01 0041859
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 041859Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN
TO RUEHSP/AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN IMMEDIATE
RUEHSP/AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN TD IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT OF SPAIN 000005 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC, EEB/IEC, ENERGY FOR OFFICE OF 
POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ENRG EPET PREL VE TT
SUBJECT: PM MANNING REITERATES TT'S POSITION ON PETROCARIBE 
AND ALBA 
 
 
PM MANNING REITERATES TT'S POSITION ON PETROCARIBE AND ALBA 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Prime Minister Patrick Manning reiterated 
January 2 that Trinidad and Tobago is unlikely to become 
fully involved in PetroCaribe, and continues to prefer the 
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) to Hugo Chavez' 
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).  This was in 
response to a broad statement made by Chavez at the recent 
Fourth PetroCaribe Summit in Cienfuegos, Cuba that he wanted 
TT to become "fully involved" in PetroCaribe.  Antigua and 
Barbuda PM Baldwin Spencer reportedly also insisted at the 
summit that TT's role in regional energy security be 
acknowledged.  TT was represented at the Summit by its 
Ambassador to Caracas, Yvonne Gittens-Joseph, who said only 
that a dialogue between TT and Venezuela on the topic would 
be useful.  Meanwhile, TT's bilateral energy cooperation 
proposals to Venezuela remain on hold, according to PM 
Manning because of the opposition of Venezuela's Energy 
Minister, Rafael Ramirez.  End Summary. 
 
TT Non-Committal to Chavez' Suggestion 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶2. (U)  At the Fourth PetroCaribe Summit in Cuba in late 
December, Hugo Chavez reportedly stated that he wanted TT to 
become "fully involved" in PetroCaribe, without offering any 
further elaboration.  Earlier, on December 21, Antiguan PM 
Baldwin Spencer had also stated that TT should have a role in 
PetroCaribe, given its vital contribution to Caricom member 
states as well as the ongoing work of the Caricom Energy Task 
Force.  TT's representative to the Summit, its Ambassador to 
Caracas Yvonne Gittens-Joseph, made a non-committal reply 
that dialogue between Venezuela and TT would be useful, and 
TT's Energy Minister Conrad Eill said December 28 that TT as 
yet had no official position on Chavez' sugestion.  TT, a 
traditional supplier of oil and atural gas to Caricom 
countries, is the only Cariom member state besides Barbados 
not to have signed on to PetroCaribe. 
 
Prime Minister Manning Comments 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) According to a report in the business section of the 
January 3 Daily Express, PM Manning made some remarks after 
touring the newly completed Hyatt Regency Hotel, during which 
he said that a bilateral agreement between TT and Venezuela 
on energy cooperation was on hold, specifically, that a 
proposal by TT to develop natural gas production from a field 
that straddles the two nations' maritime boundaries was being 
held up by the opposition of Venezuelan Energy Minister 
Rafael Ramirez.  Manning added that Hugo Chavez was supposed 
to have visited TT within a month after the last round of 
talks, which took place in Caracas in March 2007, but had 
never come, thus "the ball is by no means in the court of 
Trinidad and Tobago." 
 
Doubts about ALBA 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Manning further commented that the PetroCaribe 
arrangement was part of a larger push by Chavez to compete 
with the established Western Hemisphere system, specifically, 
that Chavez was pushing the Bolivarian Alternative for the 
Americas (ALBA) as a rival to the FTAA.  Noting that TT had 
lobbied its Caricom colleagues to make Port of Spain the 
headquarters of the FTAA, Manning broadly implied that 
signing on to PetroCaribe would also implicitly endorse ALBA, 
which would be directly contradictory to his support for 
FTAA.  By his comments, Manning indicated that there had been 
no fundamental change in TT's positions on PetroCaribe and 
ALBA. 
 
TT Leery of PetroCaribe 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) TT, a traditional supplier of gas and petroleum 
products to other Caricom member states, has never been 
particularly enthusiastic about PetroCaribe, which allows 
participating Caricom states to defer payment of 40 percent 
of their oil bill for 25 years at 1 percent interest.  TT 
reportedly informed a number of its neighbors that if they 
stopped buying refined products from TT that TT would find 
alternate customers, and could no longer guarantee regional 
energy security. 
 
PORT OF SP 00000005  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
Previous Chill Continues 
------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) TT and Venezuela have been unable to reach agreement 
on a number of energy-related issues.  In private, PM Manning 
told USG visitors in 2006 that TT would like to refine more 
Venezuelan crude oil at its refinery, but Chavez was 
apparently not interested in doing so.  When the PM was in 
Caracas in March of 2007, he was very upbeat about the 
prospects for energy cooperation.  However, when he declined 
to endorse ALBA at a press conference following the round of 
talks, his invitation to an energy conference of South 
American nations on Margarita Island was abruptly rescinded 
on the pretext that an invitation to a non-South American 
country had to be unanimously approved, and that his had not 
been approved.  Comment:  Manning's lack of enthusiasm for 
ALBA also appears to have soured the prospects for further 
energy cooperation.  End Comment. 
 
¶7. (U) TT had been hoping to find a way to begin exploiting 
an undersea gas field that straddles the maritime boundary 
between itself and Venezuela.  Venezuela lacks the 
infrastructure to process and liquefy natural gas itself, and 
is likely to have difficulty finding investors even if it 
decides to construct the necessary facilities and 
infrastructure in the future.  Manning's offer of technical 
assistance to help Venezuela establish LNG capability, while 
in the meantime processing Venezuela's share of the gas in 
TT, appears not to have been well received in Caracas. 
 
 
Balancing Act 
----------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU)  Comment:  TT has traditionally been careful not to 
needlessly irk or irritate its powerful neighbor, but has 
also worked at keeping a wary distance from getting roped 
into selling oil and gas to Caricom partners at a discount, 
preferring instead to contribute to a Caricom Petroleum Fund 
from which its partners can draw to finance social programs. 
Baldwin Spencer's remarks suggest that TT's Caricom partners 
are less irritated with TT's unwillingness to match 
PetroCaribe terms and, perhaps, more cognizant of the risk of 
putting all of their energy security eggs into one basket. 
In turn, Manning's views on PetroCaribe have not changed, and 
he appears skeptical that Chavez' overture at the PetroCaribe 
summit in Cuba would lead to any tangible progress on his 
energy agenda with Venezuela.  End Comment. 
AUSTIN