From left, Paulwell and Manning.

Energy Minister PhillipPaulwell is in Venezuela this weekend trying to arrange a supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) following Trinidad and Tobago's abandonment of a similar agreement with Jamaica.

The two countries had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Port-of-Spain, but on Thursday, Prime Minister Patrick Manning told Jamaica that it could not be honoured due to supply problems with the LNG intended for conversion to electricity.

LNG can generate electricity at lower costs than diesel, which currently forms the bulk of fuel used by the Jamaica Public Service Company, and is less polluting.

However, Trinidadian Foreign Minister Arnold Piggott, said that his country and Venezuela are close to reaching agreement on sharing a large undersea reservoir of natural gas that lies between both countries.

The 160 million cubic feet of LNG-per-day supply from Trinidad was to be used chiefly by the Jamalco alumina refinery in Clarendon - a joint partnership between Alcoa and the Jamaican Government. The US$1.6 billion expansion was conditional on a guaranteed supply of LNG. It has been delayed as a result of the uncertainty.

None to spare

Speaking two weeks ago on Jamaican soil, Mr. Manning contradicted reports that Trinidad would renege on the MoU. Speaking in December, the head of Trinidad's state-owned National Gas Company, Frank Look Kim, had said that the country had "none to spare".

Mr. Manning said that his government had completed arrangements with three gas companies to arrange supply, complete with time frames.

"The government of Trinidad and Tobago is determined to satisfy its contractual obligations to the government of Jamaica. An agreement was signed in good faith, and it is our determination, notwithstanding statements to the contrary coming from dubious sources," he told a press conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay, following a joint meeting of the CARICOM prime ministerial subcommittee on external negotiations and the CSME.

He acknowledged that certain supply conditions hadchanged, but that Trinidad would soon inform Jamaica of how it would deliver the LNG.

At the time of the MoU, then Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson had said that the MoU was an example of how the CARICOM Single Market and Economy would benefit CARICOM member states.