US tells T&T: Remove petroleum subsidies

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Guardian -The United States wants countries including T&T to remove its subsidies on petroleum products, according to a high-ranking US State official. In what is called a background briefing at the US State Department here in Washington DC, the high-ranking official, who the media are not allowed to name, said it was US government policy that it remove subsidies from petroleum products and would like to see other countries follow. The official said: “Our position is in keeping with a decision of the G20 that subsidies should be removed on energy products. It is not good for the environment, it allows energy to be used inefficiently and we think they should go. We are leading by example and we expect others to also implement this position.”

Only recently both energy economist Gregory McGuire and chief executive officer of Unipet Ronald Millford argued that unless government removed the subsidies that kept gasoline and diesel prices cheap it would not get motorists to switch to compressed natural gas. McGuire made similar arguments saying that the continued subsidy was leading to inefficient use of the country’s energy resources. The State Department official said in 2011 former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton set up a bureau in the State Department to focus exclusively on energy issues, including energy co-orporation in the Americas. The official said the US had been holding discussions with countries in the Americas, including those in the Caribbean, on helping meet their electricity needs.

The official said there was a programme to connect the entire hemisphere with electricity with those countries that have excess supply providing supplies to those with supply challenges. The official said in the Caribbean, with the exception of T&T, there were huge amounts of renewable resources and they were encouraging the countries to pursue these options. Challenged on whether all of this interest by the US in seeking solutions to the energy challenges of the Americas was an attempt to neutralise the influence of Venezuela in the region the official would only say the initiative was first put forward by Colombia during the Summit of the Americas.