Opening up Trinidad's tar sands

The island holds large bitumen reserves. The head of a company wanting to develop them says the resource could help fix the country’s energy-import problem

Trinidad and Tobago's energy economy is in a parlous state. It imports about four-fifths of the oil it uses, and natural gas reserves-the state's key energy earner-continue to fall steeply. In 2015, they dropped by almost 8% compared with the previous year. It's vital that the country find new hydrocarbon resources to plug this gap, and we think large reserves of oil sands offer an answer. The government is aware of the problem. To stop the decline its aim is to oversee a rise in conventional oil output. It estimates, for example, that the country's deep waters could hold between 3.1bn and 8.2bn barrels of oil in place. Oil and gasfields found in deep-water areas off Trinidad's eastern and n