TT — An energy success story

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO will share its energy success story at two important conferences in Houston, Texas, due to be held shortly, and this will encourage further foreign investment in the local energy sector. Addressing yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Energy Minister Eric Williams said he will present papers at conferences being held by the Centre for Business Intelligence (CBI) and the International Quality Productivity Centre (IQPC) respectively. Williams said the CBI conference was the group’s Third Annual Latin American Oil and Gas Conference. Williams said he will tell “the conference and its particpants how TT has created a win-win situation for energy investments.

As a country we are the site of, if not the largest, the second largest amount of foreign direct investment in our Hemisphere and we are being asked to share our winning formula with the rest of not just the industry but other countries in our region,” he stated. At the IQPC conference, Williams said he will “give a paper on just how important LNG from TT is to the US market.” The Minister reminded journalists that currently TT is the world’s fifth largest LNG exporter and the number one supplier of LNG into the US. “Last year our market share was of the order of 66 percent, which is about two-thirds of the LNG exports into the US,” he said. Williams added that TT’s strategic importance to the US was underlined by the visit to TT of US Energy Department Asst Secretary Vicki Bailey.

“In essence, the win-win formula that we believe has worked for us here in TT has to do essentially with our very good understanding and development with what is called the gas-value chain,” the Minister said. Williams revealed that when word spread that he will be speaking at these conferences, “a number of companies that are doing business with us or would like to do business with us, have requested that we visit with them.” Consequently, Williams said he will be visiting with BHP Biliton, Paragon Engineering Inc and El Paso Corporation while in Houston. He disclosed that El Paso has expressed interest in the Caribbean Gas Pipeline Project and “also has shareholding in at least one LNG re-gasification terminal. So it is important that we keep contacts of that nature,” he stressed. The Minister said a steering committee is being formed to have natural gas from Venezuela monetised in TT and revealed that Venezuelan service companies are interested in undertaking joint ventures with their TT counterparts on both sides of the TT-Venezuela maritime border.

Williams described an alleged “Petrotrin Hit List” as nothing but “fictional literature.” Acting PM Joan Yuille-Williams said although the list was fictious “it seems that it is not going away at all.” She said it was interesting that the person who made the allegations never supplied evidence to back up his claims when requested to do so by Petrotrin executive chairman Malcolm Jones and left the task to his lawyer. Williams lamented that efforts to ensure Petrotrin’s survival were painted in such negative terms and reiterated Government’s commitment to the company. He said PM Patrick Manning’s earlier description of Petrotrin as “Petrosingh” did not prove there is “ethnic cleansing” at Petrotrin, there are no plans to privatise the company and Government is still looking for a strategic partner for Petrotrin.