Quick summary: Trinidad and Tobago has sought Guyanese hydrocarbons since February 2024, when Guyana declined a proposal to supply crude to reopen the Guaracara refinery. Guyana declined again on gas in May 2025. In the fifteen months since, Guyana signed energy agreements with the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and none with Trinidad. No Guyana to Trinidad pipeline study exists.
BY LA CARIBEÑA NEWS · 8 AUGUST 2026
In February 2026, standing on a panel in Georgetown beside his Guyanese and Surinamese counterparts, Trinidad and Tobago's Energy Minister Roodal Moonilal said something ministers rarely say out loud.
"It is with a sense of regret I address you with the belief that over the recent past, we have not been able to conduct business, to integrate our strategies to work with the Government and people of Guyana." Trinidad, he said, should have moved sooner after Guyana's 2015 discovery. He proposed a standing forum where Caribbean energy ministers could meet regularly.
The forum has not appeared in either Conference of Heads of Government communiqué issued since. The 51st meeting in Saint Lucia in July 2026 contains no energy paragraph at all.
What has Trinidad actually asked Guyana for?
Two things, in sequence, and Guyana declined both.
The first was crude. Trinidad's Guaracara refinery at Pointe-à-Pierre has been shut since November 2018, and in February 2024 Trinidad proposed that Guyana supply crude to allow it to reopen. Argus Media reported that Guyana rejected the proposal. Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat gave the reasons: consistent supply, shallow waters and storage all needed addressing first, and, more plainly, "We want to build our own refinery in the country."
The second was gas. The US revoked Trinidad's licences for the Dragon and Manakin-Cocuina fields in April 2025, closing the Venezuelan route that Trinidad's supply plans had rested on. Its domestic position has not improved since: Trinidad's own deepwater prospect, Calypso, was written down by its operator and sold this month without a development decision, a cost or a date for first gas. Within weeks Trinidad had a new government, and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar instructed Moonilal to seek gas from Guyana, Grenada and Suriname. "Let's explore the offer being made by Guyana to bring gas to Trinidad and Tobago," she said on 5 May 2025.
Moonilal wrote to his Guyanese counterpart in his first week in office.
What did Guyana say?
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was asked directly on 10 May 2025 whether discussions with Trinidad on oil and gas were under way. His answer was two words: "The answer is no."
He set out why. "We need all of the gas there for our electricity generation and the fertiliser plant." Guyana's gas is committed to Guyanese power and a fertiliser plant, and its own share of the resource is thin by regional standards: the Stabroek royalty is 2 per cent, against the 6.25 per cent Suriname signed next door. Guyana's options for the gas, as he described them, were liquefied natural gas for export, onshore gas to generate power for sale to Brazil, onshore gas for domestic industrialisation, or some combination. Processing in Trinidad sat fourth, as something Trinidad itself should study. Any such decision would rest with a tripartite arrangement between ExxonMobil, Fulcrum LNG and the Government of Guyana, and no such arrangement exists.
Four days later he put it in one line to Trinidad and Tobago Newsday: "As of today, there is no gas to supply to anyone."
Guyana is open to talks. That is not the same as having gas to sell, and Guyana has not said it has.
Is there a Guyana to Trinidad pipeline?
There is no project, no signed agreement, and no commissioned feasibility study on the public record this newspaper can find. The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) publishes its pipeline projects: the Liquid Fuels Pipeline, the North-Eastern Offshore Pipeline, the Tobago Pipeline and the Union Pipeline Project, plus two completed. Guyana appears on none of them.
No route, capacity, cost or timeline has ever been published for such a line. Every capital figure now circulating belongs to something else: the roughly US$1.9 billion is Guyana's own domestic gas-to-shore pipeline from the Liza field to Wales, and the roughly US$2 billion is a proposed second line to Berbice, which Guyana has said depends on demand.
Trinidad's own ministers do not agree on whether a line is even possible. Moonilal has argued that running a pipeline through another state's waters is ordinary international practice. Former Energy Minister and former Prime Minister Stuart Young said the opposite: a route around Venezuelan territorial waters "would not make any commercial sense" and is "simply not commercially feasible". ExxonMobil's Guyana country manager has named the same two obstacles, distance and passage through Venezuelan waters. No engineering has been published by any of them.
What binds the two countries today?
A memorandum of understanding on energy sector cooperation, signed in Georgetown on 19 September 2018 by then Prime Minister Keith Rowley and then President David Granger. It covers technical assistance, information exchange, training, joint projects, health and safety, local content, and infrastructure for hydrocarbon transport and storage. It establishes an executing committee of the two energy ministers and a joint working group of up to ten.
Article 13 states that it "shall not constitute a legally binding agreement between the Parties in any respect." It names no pipeline and commits neither side to buy or sell anything. It runs in five-year terms and renews automatically.
What has Guyana signed with everyone else?
In May 2026, Guyana signed a contract with the Dominican Republic for exploration, development and production on the Berbice Block, with Refinería Dominicana de Petróleo taking a 10 per cent participating interest. In June 2026, Guyana signed four bilateral agreements with Jamaica, including the creation of a joint energy working group.
President Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar met at the Red House in Port of Spain on 10 April 2026, under the theme "Strengthening Trinidad and Tobago-Guyana Energy Collaboration in a New Regional Energy Era". They agreed to establish a joint working group with private sector participation. Its remit, as reported by both countries' outlets, is trade and investment barriers. No source describes it as an energy working group. Persad-Bissessar agreed to visit Guyana, and no date was announced.
The live file between the two states is the refinery, not gas. Ali put Moonilal in contact with Arab representatives and local bankers to help find financing to restart Pointe-à-Pierre. Moonilal costed it at around US$50 million for a short-term restart and around US$200 million for full product range, and said in February 2026 that a deal by mid-year or the third quarter of 2026 would let work begin in the fourth. It is now August, and no agreement has been reported.
Where is the relationship actually working?
In commerce rather than statecraft.
In June 2026 Guyana selected Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited, a Trinidadian company, together with the Guyanese firm GuyGas Inc., as first-ranked bidder to operate and maintain the natural gas liquids plant at Wales, the plant at the end of Guyana's own gas-to-energy pipeline. Five proposals were received. The Trinidadian bid ranked first on technical score and on cost-benefit.
The pairing is what Guyana's Local Content Act 2021 is built to produce. The Act reserves 40 service categories for Guyanese-owned firms, defined as at least 51 per cent Guyanese beneficial ownership with Guyanese nationals in at least 75 per cent of senior roles, and the targets vary sharply by category: 90 per cent of catering against 5 per cent of engineering and machining. Foreign specialists enter through a Guyanese partner or they do not count toward an operator's compliance at all.
Trinidad also still sells Guyana fuel. Trinidadian exports of mineral fuels, oils and distillation products to Guyana were US$192.85 million in 2024. Guyana produces crude and has no refinery.
The business chambers have moved faster than the governments. The Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed a memorandum on the sidelines of the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston on 6 May 2026, covering trade barriers, energy services, supply chain integration and technical exchange on gas monetisation. The Georgetown Chamber signed a second memorandum with the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce in July 2026, establishing a joint complaints desk for non-tariff barriers facing Guyanese exports into Trinidad.
Guyana's gas is going to Guyanese power generation, a fertiliser plant, and possibly Brazil. Trinidad's plants are the ones with spare capacity, and Trinidad's ask has been consistent for two years. What has not happened in those two years is a single signed energy agreement between them.
The data on the title card
- Guyana declined Trinidad's proposal to supply crude for the Guaracara refinery restart: February 2024. Source: Argus Media.
- Jagdeo asked whether discussions were under way: "The answer is no", 10 May 2025.
- Jagdeo on available volume: "As of today, there is no gas to supply to anyone", 14 May 2025.
- Guyana to Trinidad pipeline studies commissioned by either government, on the public record: none.
- Guyana projects on NGC's published pipeline projects list: none of six.
- Binding energy agreements between Guyana and Trinidad: none. The 2018 memorandum states at Article 13 that it is not legally binding.
- Guyana energy agreements signed elsewhere, 2026: Dominican Republic, May, Berbice Block with a 10 per cent Refidomsa interest; Jamaica, June, four agreements including a joint energy working group.
- Guyana-Trinidad joint working group agreed 10 April 2026: trade and investment remit.
- Energy paragraphs on Guyana and Trinidad in the 50th and 51st CARICOM Heads communiqués: none.
- Trinidadian exports of mineral fuels, oils and distillation products to Guyana, 2024: US$192.85 million.
- Wales natural gas liquids plant operations and maintenance, first-ranked bidder, June 2026: Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited with GuyGas Inc., from five proposals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Guyana agreed to supply gas to Trinidad and Tobago?
No. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said on 10 May 2025 that no discussions were under way, and on 14 May 2025 that there was no gas to supply to anyone. Guyana has said it is open to talks, and that any decision would rest with ExxonMobil, Fulcrum LNG and the Government of Guyana jointly. No such arrangement exists.
Is a Guyana to Trinidad gas pipeline being built?
No. On the public record this newspaper can find, no government has commissioned a feasibility study, and no route, capacity, cost or timeline has been published. NGC's own list of pipeline projects does not include Guyana. Trinidad's current and former energy ministers publicly disagree on whether such a line could avoid Venezuelan territorial waters at viable cost.
What agreement currently governs Guyana-Trinidad energy cooperation?
A memorandum of understanding on energy sector cooperation signed on 19 September 2018. It provides for technical assistance, training, joint projects and infrastructure cooperation, and establishes a joint working group. Article 13 states it is not a legally binding agreement and it commits neither side to supply.
Why does Trinidad want Guyanese hydrocarbons?
Trinidad's gas production has been falling and the US revoked its licences for the Venezuelan Dragon and Manakin-Cocuina fields in April 2025, closing the route its supply plans depended on. Its refinery at Pointe-à-Pierre has been shut since 2018. Trinidad has substantial existing liquefied natural gas, petrochemical and refining capacity and is seeking feedstock for it.
Are Trinidadian companies working in Guyana's oil and gas sector?
Yes. Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited, with Guyanese partner GuyGas Inc., was selected in June 2026 as first-ranked bidder to operate and maintain the natural gas liquids plant at Wales. Tucker Energy Services Guyana Inc. appears on Guyana's Local Content Register, and the Trinidad-headquartered Ramps Logistics has operated in Guyana since 2013.