FOREIGN affairs expert Dr Anthony Gonzales does not consider Venezuela to pose any threat to a massive deal struck between TT and ExxonMobil search and drill for oil and gas in ultra-deep waters 150 miles off the east coast of Trinidad. The former head of the Institute of International Relations, UWI, St Augustine, spoke to Newsday on August 13.

On August 12, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and ExxonMobil VP John Ardill signed a production-sharing contract, expected to bring US$16-US$21 billion worth of investment. Seismic surveys and eventual exploratory drilling will take place in waters said to cover an area larger than Trinidad, created by the merger of seven blocks of marine acreage covering 2,700 square miles (7,000 square kilometres) and at a depth of 6,500 feet (2,000 metres). This is the TTUD1 block.

It abuts on Guyana’s Stabroek block, part of which lays in disputed waters.