Disclaimer: Excerpts of allegations, borrowed from UWI Alumni blog.

In April 2026, Trinidad and Tobago has been reduced to a subservient outpost in Shell’s expanding empire, and Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s government is directly responsible for this national humiliation. What was once a proud gas-producing nation is now scrambling to become a junior processor for Venezuelan gas under terms dictated by the London-based multinational. Shell calls the shots. Trinidad holds the bag.

Shell is aggressively locking down approximately 20 Tcf of Venezuelan reserves across the Mariscal Sucre fields and Loran. It will develop the upstream in Venezuelan waters, control the cross-border transport, and feed Trinidad’s Atlantic LNG plants. The company sets the pace, the investment decisions, and the profit split. Trinidad, dressed up like a bowtied butler, stands by to serve its idle infrastructure while taking on the political risk as if it were part of the damn job description.

Trinidad’s Atlantic LNG facility has been operating well below capacity in recent years due to declining domestic gas production, with output falling from over 4 billion cubic feet per day in the early 2010s to significantly lower levels today. Several LNG trains have faced shutdowns or underutilization as upstream supply tightened, forcing the country to seek external gas to keep its flagship energy sector alive. This cannot be described as cooperation it is a damn outright capitulation. Shell has effectively colonized the value chain while Port of Spain shamefully plays host.

Kamla’s disastrous foreign policy gamble made this subservience inevitable. By aligning Trinidad with Washington’s aggressive Caribbean posture and backing actions against Nicolás Maduro in late 2025, she provoked the suspension of gas projects and destroyed Trinidad’s leverage. Now her government must crawl back to the table, begging for Venezuelan molecules through the very company that stands to gain the most. The result is clear Trinidad is no longer negotiating it is submitting. Kamla has placed the country in a position of weakness where Shell plc dictates terms from a position of overwhelming strength.

This is a profound strategic downgrade. Trinidad once controlled its own destiny as an upstream owner and producer. Today, under Kamla, it is transitioning into a dependent processor reliant on a hostile neighbor’s gas and a powerful multinational’s goodwill. Energy security has been sacrificed on the altar of geopolitical posturing. Supply can be turned off by diplomatic spite or corporate calculus. Jobs and foreign exchange may trickle in, but real control and sovereignty have fled.

Shell’s CEO openly talks of final investment decisions while Kamla’s administration meekly adjusts to the company’s timeline and conditions. The message is unmistakable Trinidad now serves Shell’s interests first. The government that promised energy leadership has delivered corporate vassalage instead.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s reckless gamble has left Trinidad economically exposed, diplomatically compromised, and strategically subservient. The country still hosts the plants, but Shell owns the power. Unless this trajectory is reversed, history will record Kamla’s tenure as the period when Trinidad surrendered its energy future to a foreign giant.