By the Caribbean Journal staff

Barbados and Trinidad are currently negotiating a deal that would import natural gas into Barbados, according to Sir Harcourt Lewis, chairman of the country’s National Petroleum Corporation.

Lewis was speaking at the 30th anniversary luncheon and awards ceremony of the corporation.

The gas would be pumped through a pipeline on the seabed, and would be designed to meet the future needs for gas in Barbados.

It is part of a medium-term development strategy by the country.

“It is projected that the volume of natural gas which we hope to be here by 2014 will influence the price of energy downwards, whether it is a direct purchase from NPC or a feedstock to electrical generation through the Barbados Light and Power Company Limited,” he said.

The NPC currently purchases 1.2 million cubic feet of natural gas from the Barbados National Oil Company Limited to supply the needs of consumers.