Jamaica’s cabinet yet to discuss re-engaging Venezuela on Petrocaribe

Robert Morgan, Jamaica’s minister without portfolio in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Information, says the Cabinet is yet to discuss if the country will re-engage Venezuela on its Petrocaribe arrangement.

This revelation was made during Wednesday’s post-Cabinet briefing.

“I'm unaware of such engagement. No discussion has taken place in Cabinet as it relates to that,” Robert Morgan said.

PetroCaribe is an agreement between Venezuela and several Caribbean countries to purchase oil at preferential terms. The agreement which started in 2005 allows beneficiary countries to buy oil at market value but only pay a percentage of the cost upfront.

As of 2019, PetroCaribe has mostly dried up because of Venezuela's eroded domestic production and refining, but political and commercial ties in some prominent cases have endured. Critics say PetroCaribe suppressed the development of renewable energy, burdened these small nations with billions of dollars in debt – and spurred corruption

Morgan said funds obtained by the government when legislation was passed in 2019 to acquire Venezuela’s 49 percent share in the Petrojam oil refinery remain in an escrow account.

The move followed US sanctions imposed on persons and entities doing business with the Venezuelan government.

Jamaica imports crude oil and finished products from Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, and Barbados.

Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, both of which have their oil industries, have not joined PetroCaribe.

Several countries signed this agreement: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Suriname, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Haiti, Honduras, and Guatemala are also a part of the agreement.

Jamaica’s policy decisions, including anti-Nicolas Maduro votes at the Organization of American States, have impacted the relationship between Kingston and Caracas.

Jamaica’s opposition spokesman on Energy, Phillip Paulwell, is urging the government to seek Venezuela’s assistance following a decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to cut oil production by two million barrels daily.