CARACAS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Venezuela has suspended

energy-development cooperation with Trinidad and Tobago,

including joint natural gas projects in the works, Venezuelan

President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday.

Maduro said in a TV broadcast that the oil ministry and

state-run oil producer PDVSA's board sent a proposal to suspend

a cooperation agreement with Trinidad to his desk.

"I have approved the measure," Maduro said.

His order immediately suspended all aspects of the

energy agreement with Trinidad and Tobago, he said, and Congress

and the Supreme Court will be asked to weigh in with additional

recommendations.

That would likely mean Venezuela would revoke the

license to develop the massive Dragon natural gas field, among

other projects.

Maduro criticized what he described as the pro-U.S.

stance of Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who

took office on May 1.

Her government has had a close relationship with the

administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, while tensions

between Washington and Caracas have escalated.

Maduro, who has claimed the U.S. wants to drive him from

power, said Persad-Bissessar threatened "to turn Trinidad and

Tobago into the U.S. empire's aircraft carrier against

Venezuela."

On Sunday, a U.S. warship docked in Trinidad, two days

after the U.S.

announced the deployment

of an aircraft carrier group to Latin America.

As Trinidad faced declining gas reserves and production,

former Trinidad prime minister Keith Rowley favored energy

diplomacy with Venezuela and resisted U.S. sanctions pressure.

Those efforts centered on the delayed Dragon natural gas

field in Venezuelan waters near Trinidad. Its 4.2 trillion cubic

feet of reserves could be a lifeline for Trinidad's

energy-dependent economy.

Rowley lost an election this year to Persad-Bissessar.

Shell and the National Gas Company of Trinidad

received a renewed U.S. license earlier this month

for the project.

Persad-Bissessar said her country did not need Venezuela's

gas.

"We have our plans to grow our economy both within the

energy and non-energy sectors," she told the Trinidad and Tobago

Newsday newspaper.

Shell, NGC and BP, which are involved in various

projects that include Venezuela, did not immediately reply to

requests for comment.

Shell is separately developing the Manatee gas project,

which crosses the maritime border into Venezuela but has

received permission from the Maduro government to be developed

on the Trinidad side independently. It was not immediately clear

if that project could also be at risk.