FORMER prime minister and former energy minister Stuart Young sounded an alert over Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's plans to seek new gas-supply sources from neighbouring Grenada plus Guyana and Suriname, as he addressed a briefing at Balisier House, Port of Spain, on May 5.

At the swearing-in of the new government on May 3 at President's House, Persad-Bissessar had proposed Grenada plus the booming provinces of Guyana and Suriname as alternatives to the Dragon gas field for which the US government recently withdrew its OFAC licence to TT to exploit as part of a wider US embargo against the Venezuelan government over human rights concerns.

However Young told reporters any gas supply from Grenada to TT, if feasible, could take ten-15 years.

He said much work needed to be done to firstly to find out about such gas reserves (whereby "possible" reserves become "probable" and then "proven.")

Young said a gas exploration project in Grenada was begun in 2012 but then "abandoned and capped" in 2018.

Replying to Newsday's questions about a Russian company known as GPG being involved in that exploration in Grenada, he said participation by Russian companies was now outlawed by the US (referring to US sanctions on Russia over the Russia-Ukraine war.)

Young said gas reserves in Guyana and Suriname must also be proved up. Further, he said a feasibility study must be done for any pipeline from those two countries to TT.

Young warned that any such pipeline from Guyana or Suriname to TT would inevitably pass through Venezuelan waters, thereby bringing Venezuela "back into the equation."

Rejecting Persad-Bissessar's claim that the Dragon deal was dead, Young said after his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he understood the Dragon deal was still open for negotiation. "The door was far from closed."

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