En­er­gy Min­is­ter Dr Roodal Mooni­lal has hit back at his pre­de­ces­sor, Stu­art Young, fol­low­ing the lat­ter’s ques­tions about the Gov­ern­ment’s re­la­tion with act­ing Venezue­lan Pres­i­dent Del­cy Ro­driguez.

Fol­low­ing news of the US Trea­sury De­part­ment’s is­suance of OFAC Gen­er­al Li­cense No 50, which has opened the door for BP PLC and Shell PLC to po­ten­tial­ly ex­plore Venezue­lan gas fields, in­clud­ing the cross-bor­der fields Lo­ran and Man­akin-Cocuina, Young is­sued a state­ment ask­ing Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar to clar­i­fy her re­la­tion­ship with the Venezue­lan head of state.

Young al­so raised ques­tions about the Gov­ern­ment’s in­volve­ment in ne­go­ti­a­tions con­cern­ing the cross-bor­der fields.