TT, France to hold energy talks

ENERGY STAKEHOLDERS from Trinidad and Tobago and France will meet in this country by year’s end to discuss the proposed Caribbean Gas Pipeline Project. The meeting was decided upon following talks between Energy Minister Eric Williams and four French senators at Riverside Plaza on Friday. Senators Michel Doublet, Bernard Joly, Yolande Boyer and Daniele Bidart expressed France’s interest in the project and were told by Williams that a pre-feasibility study on the project has been completed and the feasibility study was about to begin. Williams told the senators that the National Gas Company (NGC) has overall responsibility for the project and has contracted consultants to perform the study with funding likely to come from a local bank. He said because Government expects the project’s funding to be private sector-led, “the possibility of obtaining funding from European sources would receive due consideration.” Williams added that the NGC-hired consultants have been speaking with the French Ambassador to TT, French Government officials and stakeholders in Guadeloupe and Martinique about the project, which has been described as a “pet project” of Prime Minister Patrick Manning.