PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC:
BARBADOS COULD become the first Caribbean country to benefit from a proposed oil and gas pipeline being constructed by Trinidad and Tobago-based East Caribbean Gas Pipeline Company, Energy Minister Eric Williams said yesterday.
Williams, speaking to reporters after signing a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Malaysian based company "Petronas, said that work "is proceeding" on establishing the pipeline which could become operational by 2008.
In July, the Trinidad and Tobago government said it had agreed to modify its plans to build the pipeline that would have supplied oil and gas to a number of Caribbean states because of the high price involved.
It said nonetheless that a private company would have been established to ensure the feasibility of the project.
Williams told reporters that the Patrick Manning administration had "in fact sanctioned the project" because it felt "that it is what we believe to be a fit and proper use of natural gas from this country."
Williams said recently a delegation from Barbados had been here to discuss "some of the issues surrounding natural gas usage and the talks are progressing".
