Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, signed a unitization agreement today, Monday 17 February, 2020 in Bridgetown, Barbados. The agreement will allow for the exploration of hydrocarbon resources which straddle the maritime boundary shared by Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.

Dr Rowley said: “If we do find hydrocarbons … most likely gas, we have now agreed to operate on a unitized basis. The two countries will work together, designate the operators for such a resource and very quickly we can move towards its exploitation as long as what we have found is commercially viable.

Hopefully, this will encourage exploration in the deepwater, which is where we are now looking for the bulk of our future resources. And if we do that, we can accelerate ourselves towards a point where we can monetize at the earliest possible date whatever we may find on this acreage.”

The signing of this unitization agreement is the second phase of a process which began with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries in August 2019.