A team of oil and gas specialists have been summoned from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to assist Barbados with an urgent oil drilling mission, as the country looks long-term at cushioning any likely economic blow from the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Minister of Energy and Business, Kerrie Symmonds, responding to the news, urged citizens to brace for the possible impact, revealing that the most recent developments have made feared gas price increases “almost inevitable”.
On Tuesday, following weeks of extraordinary tension between the two countries and their allies, Russian president Vladimir Putin recognised the independence of two breakaway Ukrainian regions and deployed troops to both.
The decisions prompted a range of sanctions from western allies of Ukraine including the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) who are accusing Russia of severe breaches of international law.
But the sanctions, which include the halting of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline – a key gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, will affect countries that are heavily dependent on imported energy to oil much of its economic machinery, including Barbados.
