Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 14/Aug 02:37

Signed, sealed but not delivered

AMBITIOUS is the scope of the deepwater deal signed by the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration and ExxonMobil on August 12. But this arrangement is not set in stone. If anything, the production-sharing contract for Block TT Ultra Deep 1 takes TT into deeper, more turbulent and uncertain economic and geopolitical waters. True benefits will flow only if the government learns lessons from the scuttling of the Dragon gas initiative with Venezuela and closes the gap between its rhetoric and its actions. The deal is the fruit of steps taken by the PNM in 2024. While ExxonMobil could commit as much as US$21.7 billion in development expenditure, that is contingent on 3D seismic data acquisition due to begin within 12 months. Two exploration wells are to be drilled but in optional second and third phases. Ms Persad-Bissessar is confident, however, that there’s gold in them there hills. “They probably know something that we are going to find out,” she hinted on Tuesday. But there is nothing straightforward about this venture, whatever is discovered. Deepwater (1,000-5,000 feet) and ultra-deepwater (over 5,000 feet) fields are a new chapter in our energy industry. There are enormous challenges. More sophisticated drilling platforms, longer pipelines, and specialised tools are required. The risk of equipment failure is higher, requiring more robust safety protocols. Notwithstanding technological advances, this is a tall order. But it is the involvement of ExxonMobil, the largest US-based oil and gas company and the 13th largest company in the world by revenue, that sends a loud signal. Ms Persad-Bissessar is right to crow that the deal, whatever its provenance, is a vote of confidence in the current administration moving forward and a significant milestone. Be that as it may, the deal is as much about economics as it is about geopolitics. With it, the UNC administration has revealed that it is prepared to embark on the same tightrope act as the PNM in tapping hydrocarbons for revenue growth while committing, in principle, to the green energy transition. That tightrope act did not end well for the Keith Rowley administration, with the Dragon deal being scuppered by Donald Trump while solar energy moved at a snail’s pace. Ms Persad-Bissessar calls, as she did in her first administration, for fairer energy taxation and notes deepwater involves less carbon pollution. Her government has committed, in words, to continuing green projects begun under the last. But that is where the common ground between the present and the past government ends. By turning to the arms of ExxonMobil, this country is now at the centre of unpredictable dynamics involving the White House, Venezuela and Guyana. It is a bet that might pay off. But it is one that we should not wager our entire future on. The post Signed, sealed but not delivered appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.