For the past few weeks, international financial news outlets have been reporting that Venezuela is in trouble because of the falling price of oil on the world market.

For a country that is the third leading oil producer in the world – the five year low in oil prices means major losses in revenue for their main export, and it's causing crippling conditions in the already cash strapped country.

So, reports say that Venezuela is being forced to sell some of that Petrocaribe debt – in a process that's called securitization. The new owners of the debt would be US investment banks such as Goldman Sachs. That has sent a chill through some of the Petrocaribe countries because owing an arch-capitalist American bank is not quite the same as owing a friendly country with socialist ideals.

But, today, John Mencias who is the Deputy Chair for the Alba Petrocaribe Belize Energy Limited, the Belizean company that buys the Petrocaribe fuel from Venezuela told us that it hardly matters to Belize who holds the debt:…

Jules Vasquez

"Is it a concern that the paper may end up in the hands of an investment bank?"

John Mencias, Dep. Chmn – APBEL (Alba Petrocaribe Belize Energy Limited)

"No because this example of a promissory note; As you can clearly see it states the amount we're to pay by a certain date. This cannot be varied, so that will not change. They only concern one might have if we're unable to pay and if the debt is being held by Venezuelans then they would probably understand and try to push it backward. That is the only advantage I can see. The point is, the amount we are obligated to pay will not change. So there is no concern there is Venezuela is going to securitise they debts that they hold owed from us."

And while the terms of the debt won't change – the program is changing. The Prime Minister yesterday told us that no premium fuel will arrive in the next shipment. He described it as "a pullback." So how much more will they pull back? And could that extend to other fuels – possibly leading to a downscaling of the program? Mencias said that the premium pull back is only temporary – and besides, who needs premium fuel? That's what he told us:…

John Mencias, Dep. Chmn – APBEL (Alba Petrocaribe Belize Energy Limited)

"We're received an e-mail from PDVSA, which is the oil refinery and the state owned company in which we have this agreement, we received last Friday. They told us they will be unable to supply premium to us for next year, 2015; But they will try their very best to meet the commitment for January 2015. There are 2 shipments due for this month and one is in port right now. They are meeting their commitments to supply premium as we had requested, so premium will be coming in on these shipments. Understand there should be no fear because Puma will source the premium from some where else. We've been saying we would want to encourage switching towards regular as much as possible and I think the prime minister explained that. For most of the vehicles in Belize, I'd say 99 percent of vehicles in Belize there is no need to use premium fuel."

When he says "Regular", Mencias is referring specifically to the higher-grade fuel from Venezuela with an octane rating of 89, compared to premium at 90.5. Before Petrocaribe the octane rating on the regular fuel imported into Belize ranged between 85 and 87.

Tomorrow we'll have more from our extended interview with Mencias on the future of Petrocaribe.