Trinidad's Energy Ties Put State Power on Display

Trinidad and Tobago’s 2027 budget expects more than 70% of foreign-exchange earnings to come from energy exports, while U.S. rules require taxes and royalties owed to Venezuela to go into an account designated by the U.S. Treasury. The region’s energy future is taking shape through state budgets, corporate licences and Washington’s financial controls—not through any community response described in the account.

Energy Dependence, Corporate Deals

The country’s Central Statistical Office measured a 0.5% economic contraction in 2025. The Ministry of Finance reported real output fell 1.8% in the first quarter of 2026. The budget statement linked falling gas output to the permanent closure of Atlantic LNG Train 1 and several petrochemical plants. In early 2026, gas production stood at about 2.4 billion cubic feet a day, down from a 2014 peak of 4.4 billion.

That dependence has made new supply a government priority. The budget expects gas from the Aphrodite and Manatee Plus fields in 2027; Manatee Plus is due to produce first gas in late 2027, with peak output of 600 million cubic feet a day. BP’s local arm secured a licence for Loran Phase II and agreed to buy Woodside’s 70% stake in the Calypso field. Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo said the Loran licence could let the country monetize potentially more than 4 trillion cubic feet of cross-border and regional gas through existing infrastructure.

On Feb. 13, 2026, the U.S. announced general licences for certain oil and gas activities in Venezuela and along the shared sea border. The conditions require taxes and royalties owed to Venezuela’s government or state oil company to go into an account designated by the U.S. Treasury. A foreign government now sits at the center of how those revenues are handled.

Trinidad and Tobago has a population of 1,367,764 and income per person of US$18,967, compared with US$11,095 regionally. Its economy contracted even as energy exports remained central to foreign-exchange earnings. The 2027 budget projects a TT$3.639 billion deficit, about US$0.54 billion, and assumes oil at US$77 a barrel and gas at US$5.00 per million British thermal units. Those are planning assumptions, not market forecasts.

Diplomacy and Military Access

Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s United National Congress won 26 of 41 seats in the April 28, 2025, election. Her government later backed U.S. pressure on Nicolás Maduro’s government; in October 2025, Venezuela’s National Assembly declared her persona non grata. U.S. forces took Maduro to New York on Jan. 3, 2026. Delcy Rodríguez, previously vice president, took charge in Caracas.

After Foreign Minister Sean Sobers visited Venezuela, the governments issued a joint statement on Sept. 3 describing a “new era” and outlining a roadmap on trade, energy, agriculture, the environment, culture and collective security. Persad-Bissessar and Rodríguez met in New York on Sept. 23. Their statement said the Venezuelan side indicated Persad-Bissessar was persona grata, and the leaders agreed to official visits to Caracas and Port of Spain. No dates had been announced, and no new Venezuelan gas contract had been published.

The United States also has direct military access arrangements. The two governments signed a Status of Forces Agreement in December 2024. On Dec. 15, 2025, Trinidad and Tobago’s foreign ministry approved U.S. military aircraft using Piarco and ANR Robinson airports for what the United States described as logistics and personnel rotations. The approval gave no end date. A U.S. radar that arrived in Tobago in November 2025 had been dismantled by March 16, 2026; the foreign ministry hadn’t said what U.S. presence remained.

Regional Institutions, Disputed Authority

Trinidad and Tobago is a founding member of CARICOM, which has 15 member states and eight associate members. Its government argued that the reappointment of Secretary-General Carla Barnett breached the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas because it wasn’t on the agenda and the Community Council had made no recommendation. Summit chair Terrance Drew said leaders acted by the required majority. At the July 2026 summit, leaders agreed to seek an advisory opinion from the Caribbean Court of Justice. As of July 28, the Court said it hadn’t received a request and had issued no opinion.

Port of Spain hosts that court, but Trinidad and Tobago continues to use the Privy Council for final appeals. At the same July summit, the government offered the National Prosthetics Centre and Couva Children’s Hospital for regional use. The source reports no direct-action or mutual-aid response by residents; governments, courts and energy companies made the recorded decisions and negotiations.