The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis believes the key to relief for Bahamians concerning escalating gas prices and higher energy costs is wrapped up in the removal of sanctions on Venezuela.

“Once the valve is released for Venezuela to provide fuel we will see a very significant downward trend on the cost of fuel,” Mr Davis said yesterday.

In comments to reporters, the Prime Minister said small island developing states like The Bahamas have agitated at both the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda and at the Summit of the America’s in Los Angeles to lift the sanctions on Venezuela, noting that more factors than the Russian invasion on Ukraine bolstered increased gasoline costs.

He said the sanctions on Venezuela played a vital role in rising cost of fuel for The Bahamas.

Mr Davis was asked yesterday to speak to the gripping cost of fuel and the government’s position on higher electricity bills that is expected to come through a fuel surcharge adjustment.

He spoke fresh from Rwanda in the VIP Lounge at the Lynden Pindling International Airport where reporters fielded questions about national issues.

“As you would have heard me earlier speak about the energy crisis and what we’re doing as Small Island Developing States at these conferences is to have the United States and the industrialised world to remove sanctions in particular for Venezuela, which is now working, that we hope would be a step in relieving the cost of fuel to Bahamians,” Mr Davis said.

“In respect to our meetings with the petroleum dealers we did make some movements during the budget exercise particularly to assist Family Island dealers and we are still working out what else we can do recognising that most of the cost related to fuel is not within our control.

“What is in our control and which I have been doing is letting our voice be heard about some of the initiatives and policies in some of the industrialised world that is causing the increase in oil. Quite apart from the invasion of Ukraine there are also other issues like the sanctions on Venezuela that impacted the cost of fuel particularly for us.

“So, if those sanctions are lifted it helps and so we have been agitating. We have had two major meetings in respect to that - one at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago and one at CHOGM now where Canada and the UK were present in there where we made our voices known.

“Both Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prime Minister Justin (Trudeau) left our meeting to go to the G7 and they are now there and they are charged to carry our voices with them and hopefully we should see some relief on that.”

“I know that other meetings would have been held with the petroleum industry with the financial secretary and Michael Halkitis but I’ve not been briefed on those discussions. I will seek to find out if there was any new matters after.”

Regarding a coming BPL increase, Mr Davis again pointed to the grip being loosened off of Venezuela.

“We are looking at ways and means. In fact both at the Summit of the Americas and at CHOGM, the issue of energy security loomed very large in our discussions.

“So, for example the voices of SIDS were being heard about the sanctions being placed on Venezuela and we are now seeing movements to relieve the sanctions so that the Venezuela oil and other related products could now be exported from Venezuela. So, our voices are being heard with respect to that.

“Trinidad for example they have a reserve of gas which was being stagnated because of the relationship they have with Venezuela. We have made strong representations to the US to lift the sanctions with respect to that and we hope to see that move very soon.

“So, if our efforts to remove the other pressures that feed into the increasing the cost of fuel, if those are released as we expect them to, then there will be no need for us to consider raising any further bills on the backs of Bahamians but these are some of the things that we do when we travel.

“And so from the Summit of the Americas you would have noted that since then the Americans have allowed Venezuela to export to the European Union.

“The next step now is to deal with our situation in the Caribbean and hopefully we just have to follow through with that. We are to deal with that this weekend in sSuriname. That’s high on the agenda - energy security.

“Because once the valve is released for Venezuela to provide fuel we will see a very significant downward trend on the cost of fuel,” Mr Davis said.

Back in May, it was reported that the United States would ease some sanctions on Venezuela in exchange for continued dialogue between President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition.

The sanctions relief allows Chevron Corporation to negotiate the terms of its licence and potential future activities with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, according to international news reports.

In October, Maduro suspended talks held in Mexico with the country’s opposition leaders in retaliation for the US extradition of Alex Saab, a close ally of the Venezuelan leader who is accused of laundering money.

A senior administration official stressed the measures are being taken at the “request of the Venezuelan interim government and the ‘Unity’ platform of opposition parties.”

The official said the United States supports a peaceful and negotiated outcome to the Venezuelan political, economic and humanitarian crisis.

“We are going to calibrate our sanctions policy accordingly, to increase pressure or alleviate pressure on the basis of ambitious, concrete and irreversible outcomes that empower the Venezuelan people to determine the future in their country through democratic elections,” the official said according to NBC News.

The move came after US officials had traveled to Venezuela in March to meet with Maduro as it sought to isolate Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. Russia is a close ally of Maduro.

It was the highest-level US visit to the socialist country in years.

Two jailed Americans were freed after the meeting.