Petrotrin intervention coming

Addressing the nation last evening on the occasion of the first anniversary of his People’s National Movement Government in office, Rowley said that Government intends to sit down with the Oilfield Workers Trade Union to discuss the way forward for Petrotrin and Trinmar.

Oil production which has been sliding steadily over the last few years, he noted, was now down to below 70,000 barrels a day, the lowest in 65 years, and well below where it should be if “we are to rely on it as heavily as we are do now.” Spurred on by gas supply concerns, Rowley noted that TT has been engaged in discussions and negotiations with the Venezuelan Government with a view to partner with them and the international private sector to monetise, through Pt Lisas, Venezulea’s gas rich Dragon fields.

Under the guidance of the Energy Sub Committee, he said, Government has successfully re-negotiated the terms of the Massy/Mitsubishi, Caribbean Gas Chemical Limited Natural Gas to Petrochemical project with Massy/Mitsubishi and the Government of Japan. This would allow the billion dollar investment project, he said, to proceed without exposing TT in the manner that the original documentation had.

On TT’s relations with Ghana in the hydrocarbon industry, he said, the memorandum of understanding signed earlier in the year, in Accra, between the two countries has initiated serious negotiations and calculations with National Gas Company professionals for TT to invest and supply technical expertise.

“We have been and continue to be in a very precarious position with respect to the natural gas supply which has seen persistent shortages at Point Lisas,” he said, “resulting in sustained losses to some of the businesses there and significant curtailment in revenues to the Government.” Meanwhile, TT has to find new ways, he said, to diversify its industrial efforts and find alternative options to expand its earning potential if the people are to sustain the standard of living going forward. On the general state of affairs, he said, thanks to fiscal prudence by Government, “we are steadfastly and meticulously positioning our economy to confront our own revenue shocks and the worsening international economic forecasts.” The Treasury, he said, “has roughly 11 months foreign exchange cover. Notwithstanding the issues surrounding the availability and consumption of foreign exchange we have managed to maintain our reserves at US$10.0 billion; the same as it was in September 2015.” When his government took office, he said, it was against the noticeable backdrop of energy revenues collapsing precipitously by as much as 70 percent or more.

He reiterated that the IMF is not an option his Government proposes to exercise.

The task was now to make the necessary, sometimes painful adjustments, he said, “to find ways to stimulate growth in the process and at the same time protect the weak and vulnerable. It is not an entirely pleasant task, nor is it a hopeless one.” Step by step, Government has been putting the modalities in place, he said, “to steer the nation’s ship of state towards recovery and restoration following that traumatic and painful period of five years of reckless, irresponsible and woefully corrupt governance.” It is testimony to responsible, sane and sober approach to governance, he said, “there has been no widespread mass layoffs nor economic and social instability in these trying times.”