Gas pressure blamed on Petrotrin

Workers at State-owned oil company, Petrotrin, have refused to shoulder blame for the recent gasoline shortages saying “heightened and prolonged” work stoppages may be in the offing unless major upgrades are implemented at the company’s marine services department. The workers have called for the removal of two senior persons at Petrotrin’s Marine Division saying the Port’s facilities had been  allowed to deteriorate under their supervision. For the past few days, supplies of gasoline and other petroleum products had been in short supply at service stations throughout the nation after workers downed tools at the port citing unsafe health and safety conditions. However, after marathon mediation discussions between Petrotrin executives and Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) officials, the situation was defused after the company agreed to implement immediate repairs to the port’s berthing areas.

But, speaking to Sunday Newsday yesterday, OWTU (Petrotrin branch) secretary, Shaffick Hyatali, laid the blame for gas shortages squarely on the company, saying Petrotrin had been aware of the situation for some time but had opted to “do nothing.” “We submitted a report on the conditions at the marine department to Petrotrin, but no one did anything. Just imagine, on most of the island berths, (off-shore docking piers), which sit in about 45 feet of water, there are no life-rings. “In the fire box, there are no foam or hose nozzles in case of fire, and in the case of berths five and six, there are no water lines attached to the sprinkler system, so if a fire starts there, you better be a praying man and a good swimmer,” he said. He added Berths one, two (South), five, six and seven were all recently inspected by union officials and had been “deemed unsafe.”

He said conditions on Berth six, which was used to accommodate the larger ocean tankers, conditions were “extremely unsafe” and revealed that “menial repairs” had been performed since the industrial action. “In fact, at 6 pm today (yesterday), a gasoline tanker, the Moldanger, is bringing in a supply of gasoline and the company wants to use Berth two, but we are saying that if that berth is unsafe, then the tanker will either have to use another berth or wait until the berth has been declared safe for use,” he said. Hyatali observed that while Petrotrin had committed itself to a cleaner fuel upgrade, with a number of improvements earmarked for the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, nothing was being done to improve the port’s conditions. “It is a well known fact that we do not produce enough crude for the refinery and have to import, so why is it that only one section of the refinery is being upgraded. while another section that is just as important, is being left to decay.

We are saying work stoppages will continue as long as there are unsafe working conditions at the port,” he said. Hyatali also revealed that only two of Petrotrin’s four launches, the Kingfish and the Moonfish, had been deemed “reasonably safe” for operation. He said a joint task force, comprising both Petrotrin executives and a union official, had been mandated to procure another bunker barge to facilitate the sale of bunker fuel in the Gulf of Paria. He also noted Petrotrin had been given until Wednesday to supply details on vacancies and measures for the filling of vacancies. Meanwhile, checks with a number of service stations in South Trinidad confirmed that supplies of gasoline and other petroleum products had returned to normal.