Easing region’s oil hike burden

The meeting, which was chaired by Venezuela’s energy minister, comes ahead of one that was scheduled for Wednesday in Caracas involving host President Hugo Chavez and at least three heads of government of the Caribbean – President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana and the prime ministers of Trinidad and Tobago (Patrick Manning) and Grenada (Keith Mitchell).

Both the group of ministers from Venezuela, Caricom and possibly Cuba, as well as the heads of state and government will focus on earlier discussed plans for the creation of an intra-Caribbean oil company, PetroCaribe, as well as Venezuela’s offer of cheaper oil to states of the Caribbean region.

With the continuing rise in oil prices, aggravated by increasing instability in the Middle East, and more specifically in oil exporting states like Iraq and Iran, Venezuela’s Chavez seems determined to achieve the creation of the proposed PetroCaribe that was initially discussed between him and Prime Minister Manning.

Manning, whose oil and natural gas-based economy has a distinct advantage in intra-regional trade within Caricom, has already signed with Chavez, a memorandum of understanding on cross-border energy resources.

While preliminary dicussions were taking place on the establishment of PetroCaribe, Jamaica and Venezuela agreed to undertake joint schemes such as refining, marketing and distribution of oil and gas products for the Jamaican market.

Now, comes this week’s meetings in Venezuela, the world’s fourth largest oil producer and single biggest foreign supplier of oil to the United States of America with which relations are quite strained, especially over the Chavez administration’s increasing ties with Cuba.

Like Caricom, Venezuela, under the Chavez administration, has close relations with Cuba, and has already agreed to include Cuba in his government’s Caracas Energy Accord.

Trinidad and Tobago, rich in oil and natural gas, is the only Caricom state that does not have to confront the problems its community partners face over escalating oil prices, which reached an all-time high last week of US$60. Its own role in helping to ease the burden of its Caricom partners will be among issues to be discussed at tomorrow’s meeting .

The high cost of oil imports continues to have negative consequences also for tourism economies like Barbados and Jamaica. And the region’s people as a whole, coping with the frustration of increased fuel charges and hikes in consumer commodities linked to the ongoing hikes in oil prices, would certainly be anxious to learn of the outcome of the meeting between Caricom leaders and Chavez.