Venezuela pushes Trinidad out of Caribbean oil market

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's sale of subsidized oil to the Caribbean through the Petrocaribe initiative is pushing traditional supplier Trinidad and Tobago out of the region in search of new markets. Trinidad state oil company Petrotrin's usual Caribbean market sales of around 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) have fallen by half since the 2005 creation of Petrocaribe, which sells oil and fuel on advantageous terms to Caribbean and Central America nations. 'We lost market in the (Caribbean) region but the displaced products are now going into other markets' including the United States, said Kenneth Allum, Petrotrin Vice President for Refinery and Marketing. Venezuela is selling around 190,000 bpd of oil and products to Caribbean and Central American nations through the Petrocaribe initiative. The Caribbean imports around 450,000 bpd of oil, according to U.S. Department of Energy data.