Reuters reported that Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago signed an agreement to establish each country's share in the natural gas reserves on their maritime border, for purposes of development.

Trinidad has aggressively developed the natural gas industry. However, Venezuela is still dependent on hydrocarbon imports to supply its domestic market, as the exploitation of its vast offshore reserves has been delayed for decades.

Mr Rafael Ramirez minister of energy and petroleum for Venezuela said that "At the level of ministers we have signed the first agreement of unitization of the Loran Manatee field."

The unitization of reserves accord gives Venezuela 7.3 trillion cubic feet and Trinidad 2.7 trillion cubic feet of the Loran Manatee field, which is estimated to hold 10 trillion cubic feet.

Mr Ramirez said that "For Trinidad, this means the continuity of their extraordinary plans for natural gas development, and for Venezuela this means that will be able to have access to the quantities of gas we have on our side."

(Sourced from www.reuters.com)