Prime min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has laud­ed the pro­posed Drag­on Gas deal be­tween T&T and Venezuela as an ex­am­ple of gov­ern­ment-to-gov­ern­ment co­op­er­a­tion in the mon­etis­ing of nat­ur­al gas re­sources.

And Row­ley said he be­lieves oth­er co­op­er­a­tions with­in the re­gion can al­so come to fruition as T&T pro­vides a vi­able op­tion for those coun­tries that wish to op­ti­mise the mon­eti­sa­tion of their hy­dro­car­bon re­sources with­out in­cur­ring sub­stan­tial capi­ta ex­pen­di­ture and de­lay.

"In to­day's eco­nom­ic en­vi­ron­ment how­ev­er in­vest­ments in en­abling in­fra­struc­ture and tech­nol­o­gy can be cost­ly even to the point of be­ing pro­hib­i­tive. t&t has the en­er­gy in­fra­struc­ture to mon­e­tise hy­dro­car­bon re­sources pro­duced by its Caribbean neigh­bours and can do that now. the coun­try pos­sess­es, 10 am­mo­nia plants, sev­en methanol plants, four LNG plants and an iron and steel com­plex," Row­ley said.

Row­ley al­so tout­ed the moth­balled re­fin­ery in Pointe-a-Pierre for those in search of a re­fin­ery.

"This re­fin­ery and its sup­port­ing in­fra­struc­ture are avail­able for restart, up­grade and use on rea­son­able terms to any in­ter­est­ed re­fin­er or crude sup­pli­er," he said.

The sec­ond an­nu­al In­ter­na­tion­al En­er­gy Con­fer­ence and Ex­po is be­ing held at the Guyana Mar­riott Ho­tel in George­town.

Row­ley is among sev­er­al heads of gov­ern­ment who are in at­ten­dance at the event.