Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has suspended all energy agreements with Trinidad and Tobago. According to NTN24 Venezuela, Maduro made the announcement in a televised speech on October 27, accusing Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of turning her country into an “aircraft carrier of the US empire against Venezuela.” Earlier that day, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez had urged Maduro to end the Energy Cooperation Framework Agreement and suspend all bilateral gas deals with Trinidad and Tobago.
Rodríguez said, “We propose to President Nicolás Maduro the denunciation of the Energy Cooperation Framework Agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. “Consequently, we request that all bilateral gas agreements be suspended.”
Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela signed agreements in 2015 to jointly develop the Dragon gas field, which holds an estimated four trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Progress has been hindered by U.S. sanctions, but in early October 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department granted an OFAC licence allowing Trinidad and Tobago and Shell to negotiate with Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, through April 2026. A previous licence issued under the former People’s National Movement government of Dr. Keith Rowley was revoked in early 2025 by the Trump administration.
Following Delcy Rodríguez’s call to suspend the agreements on October 27, Venezuela’s Deputy Minister of Anti-Blockade, William Castillo Bollé, wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “There is no bilateral conflict between the United States and Venezuela… There is a unilateral aggression by the United States against Venezuela… There is a killer in the Caribbean.”
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister: “We do not need Venezuela’s gas.”
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says Trinidad and Tobago’s future does not depend on Venezuelan gas. Speaking during a 17-minute interview on a local crime show, she said while the suspension of gas deals may concern some, the country has plans to grow its economy both within and beyond the energy sector.
She noted that Trinidad and Tobago has received no official communication from Venezuela regarding the suspension. “The last government mistakenly placed all their eggs in that one Dragon basket, we have not done so and, therefore, we are not susceptible to any blackmail from Venezuela for political support.”
She added that Trinidad and Tobago maintains “very peaceful relations” with Venezuela and has had no energy discussions with its government since taking office in May 2025.
Addressing Venezuelan claims that Trinidad and Tobago collaborated with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to stage a “false flag” attack on a U.S. warship docked in Port of Spain, Persad-Bissessar dismissed the accusation as untrue. “I stand by my words, no one, whether it is the Venezuelan government, CARICOM or any other entity, no one will pressure us or blackmail my government into retreating from the fight against drug cartels.”
The prime minister said she is tired of seeing citizens “murdered and terrorised” by gang violence fueled by drug, arms, and human trafficking. Since early September, 43 people have been killed at sea in U.S. strikes targeting narco-traffickers as the Trump administration intensifies its anti-drug operations in the Caribbean.
Asked to address reports Trinidad and Tobago was being used as a base for US operations, Persad- Bissessar said, “We are not being used as a base, we have had ships come here before, ships come now and ship will come after because we have a history of cooperation with the United States.
“I say categorically: we have no plans for Trinidad and Tobago to be used as a base for any military interventions anywhere else.” She said there has been no request from the US for Trinidad and Tobago to be used as a base.
