With Venezuela Facing Tough Economic Times, Caribbean Leaders Head to Washington for Energy Talk
With Venezuela Facing Tough Economic Times, Caribbean Leaders Head to Washington for Energy Talk
The Caribbean Energy Security Summit is a well-timed and relevant initiative as the region seeks for energy alternatives amid the global oil crisis, comments COA’s Eric Farnsworth.
PORT-AU-PRINCE- With global crude prices falling and their biggest oil supplier — PetroCaribe — on life support amid Venezuela’s tough economic times, Caribbean leaders will participate in closed talks Monday in Washington with Vice President Joe Biden and other U.S. officials at the first Caribbean Energy Summit.
The summit comes as both the United States and Trinidad and Tobago seek to help the Caribbean, where concerns are increasingly growing over the high cost of diesel-fueled electricity and the effect of Venezuela’s economic woes on the PetroCaribe deferred oil payment program. The arrangement allows regional governments to receive oil at a discount and invest the savings on social and infrastructure programs....
“PetroCaribe is not dead, but it’s on life support; even Cuba has looked for alternatives beyond Venezuela,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas and Americas Society, which is co-hosting the energy summit.
Farnsworth said the summit is a well-timed initiative and highly relevant initiative.
“There are several things going on here. The first is the Caribbean’s desire to diversify their energy sources away from increasingly troubled Venezuela, while also working to improve their clean energy profile and reducing costs of electricity in order to promote greater economic competitiveness,” Farnsworth said. “All three of these goals could be addressed effectively by closer energy relations with the United States, particularly as the U.S. looks increasingly to export cleaner natural gas.”
Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, Farnsworth said, is cleaner than the current fuel most Caribbean nations get from Venezuela, and cheaper due to new technologies and increased production in the United States....
