Roget accuses Government of selling out Petrotrin’s assets

“There is a plan to sell out the assets of Petrotrin without even the knowledge of those who were on that restructuring committee,” Roget said, adding, “so apparently the restructuring committee was set up as a ruse to deliberate on the one hand while their operatives are moving underground to sell out Petrotrin before recommendations were made.” “And we ask the question- was that a recommendation of the restructuring committee to aggressively go with this farm out and lease out arrangement,” he said.

Roget noted that while there were two union representatives on the committee, (David Abdullah and Gregory Marchan), “there was absolutely no discussion about chopping up Petrotrin and sharing it to their friends and financiers.” Roget was addressing an emergency press conference at OWTU headquarters, Paramount Building, Circular Road, San Fernando yesterday.

And waving a form titled- “Nomination Process for Competitive Bid Round 2017” which had been downloaded from the Ministry of Energy’s website, he said this was an “aggressive move now to carve out and to carve up and to put in the plates of private interests what is public ownership.” Roget said: “Currently a competitive bid round is taking place for the assets of the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago. So while the Prime Minister on the one hand would tell the country that he is about transparency and accountability, what he is not telling the country is the surreptitious manner they are giving away the assets of the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago.” He said the blocks which were open for bid were in the southern basin and had recently been the subject of a 3-D seismic survey which had been commissioned by Petrotrin.

The Blocks include “Onshore Blocks such as Charuma 1 and 2, Cory D and F, Catshill, Trinity and Block G, H and I while the shallow water blocks include NCMA 2; 3; 4(a); 4 (b) and South Marine.

There are also several Northern Deepwater Blocks and Eastern Deepwater Blocks for bid.

“This arrangement here provides for Petrotrin fields and acreages that are now under the control of Petrotrin to be given away to lease operators while no one said anything at all about aggressively accelerating this programme,” he said.

He said the increase in crude oil production would be credited to the lease operators saying this was tantamount to Petrotrin purchasing its own oil from the lease operators.

“These acreages come under the whole southern basin where all of the seismic survey was done so you picture all of the data resulting from the seismic survey, the three seismic surveys that was done by Petrotrin, paid for by Petrotrin and we are asking the question- where is that seismic survey, where is the data for that, is that in the hands of those lease operators who are now ready to go and pick the plum out of Petrotrin and then tout that approach as a success story,” he said.

“When in fact they are aided and abetted and spoon fed to bring about a particular result, which result only benefit a few,” he said.

He said the union was not only calling for the removal of Energy Minister Franklin Khan, (whom he dubbed the “lease and farm out minister), but promised that they would do “everything necessary” to prevent the implementation of the plan.

Meanwhile, former Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine said the Energy Ministry should explain the rationale behind its acreage bid round saying all of the blocks were owned by Petrotrin.

“It looks as though the Ministry of Energy is putting out Petrotrin’s acreage for nomination so the Ministry has to come clean and the Ministry has to explain to the country exactly what it is that is happening here because when you look at the map, it is the acreage in the Deep South and the southwest peninsula,” he said.

“I think the union’s observation is an observation that requires an answer from the Ministry,” he said.

The Energy Minister was unavailable for comment as he was attending Parliament.