Williams: UNC cost TT valuable energy dollars

Speaking during yesterday’s Budget debate in the House of Representatives, Williams also said TT has an abundance of energy reserves to undertake all of the developmental initiatives it needs to become a First World nation by 2020. He said TT has approximately 80 years of energy reserves (oil and natural gas) available to it, the sector’s contribution to GDP this year increased to 40.5 percent and Government will ensure that "more and more of the energy pie stays in the country."

He said at the end of August, local oil and gas production stood at 146,529 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 3,148 million std cubic feet respectively and local oil and gas production are forecasted to increase in fiscal year 2006 to 148, 258 bopd and 3,800 million std cubic feet respectively.

"Our production continues to rise. The glass is half-full and not half-empty. We have in place enough resources to develop our country," Williams declared.

Noting the major role expected of Petrotrin in these efforts, Williams said under the UNC, "a culture developed in Petrotrin where the ministry was the ministry and Petrotrin was the junior ministry" and this led to Petrotrin getting into activities which "were not appropriate." Williams said Government has reversed this situation and Petrotrin’s idle acreages will soon be freed up to focus on core areas of activity and open up a new wave of onshore and offshore exploration off Trinidad’s South coast.

He also said new fiscal regimes for production sharing contracts in shallow and deep water regions have added an additional US$8.6 million to the State’s coffers, and Government has renegotiated a new gas arrangement with bpTT that would see the company providing 50 million std cubic feet of natural gas to TT for developmental reasons from 2005 to 2008.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning added that Government was not prepared to export gas under arrangements negotiated by the UNC, saying that Amoco had taken advantage of "a government that was unsuspecting in its early days."

Stating that LNG imported into the US in 2004 may have been under-reported by US$500 million, Williams said Government will now revisit LNG marketing arrangements agreed to under the UNC (including a tax holiday for Atlantic LNG’s Train One) and was certain this will "bring considerable value back to the country."

Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath said Government’s energy policies were "bordering on obeah and witchcraft," noting that Government had emasculated the nation’s Public Service. Ramnath said the FBI and Scotland Yard should conduct an inquiry into the Police Service’s inability to deal with crime, instead of helping them to fight crime.

He seemingly shot down new UNC leader Winston Dookeran’s initiative to bring Manning and Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday together when he categorically stated that the UNC would not support passage of the Police Reform Bills if Government brought them back to Parliament.

Despite his defeat in Sunday’s UNC internal elections, Ramnath boasted that democracy was alive and well in the party.