Economist measures cost of Angelin loss

“Building the platform abroad is a major blow to the diversification efforts of the Trinidad and Tobago,” Hosein said. “The economy may not have just lost an opportunity, but this could signal the death of an industry.”

According to Hosein, a recently concluded Kairi study on poverty in Trinidad and Tobago listed the poverty rate in Point Fortin at 30.6 percent as compared to a national average of 24.5 percent. This indicated the region would have benefitted from the investment associated with building the platform.

“Even more telling,” Hosein said, “while the national unemployment rate stood at 3.4 percent in 2015, in Point Fortin it was 7.2 percent. In La Brea, which neighbours Point Fortin but typically has less employment channels, the unemployment rate is likely to be around ten percent to 15 percent.”

Hosein continued: “As a guide to what we may be losing when projects like Angelin go abroad, US$2.1 billion was invested in the Juniper project, eight percent of which was spent in the fabrication of the platform. At peak construction there were 700 people. The peak would have lasted around five months. There were basically ten subcontractors and around 100 local suppliers. Juniper would therefore have had entrenched backward linkages with the rest of the economy in general and with La Brea in particular.”

However, Hosein feared that the stance taken by the union, may signal to other companies, particularly those in emerging energy sectors like Guyana’s and Suriname’s, to take their business elsewhere.

The economist said given TT’s declining rate of energy production and falling output per worker, unions and other lobby groups needed to be careful.

“They must not make wage and other demands that are out of sync with the realities of the market and of a maturing energy sector. Business as normal cannot continue in such a setting.”