Questions for PM on natural gas

THE EDITOR: The following is really addressed, through you, to The Honourable Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago: Dear Mr Prime Minister, Recently, in an address to the business community in South Trinidad, you spoke highly of the new agreement with bpTT re: increased royalties. I have a few questions for you on that statement as reported in the news media.

Question 1: What is/was the total amount, in US$, of the increased royalties that were originally being sought, on our behalf, from bpTT over the next 13 years or so?
Question 2: What is the total value of the gas that you have agreed to accept as payment in lieu of cash?
Question 3: Is there a variation/escape clause for TT in this gas for cash swap, to cater for a drop in the current/baseline benchmark price per mcf of natural gas used in making this deal?
Question 4: Conversely, is there a variation/escape clause for bpTT in this gas for cash swap, to cater for an increase in the current/baseline benchmark price per mcf of natural gas used in making this deal?
Question 5: Since the gas is going to be used for electricity generation purposes, at what price would it be sold to the power generating companies? And would such selling price mean that our future electricity rates would be lower or, at least, would not go up?
Question 6: Or would we the citizens of TT be the ones who, in the end, are really going to pay if/when this deal goes sour?
In light of what you did not announce in your making public this royalty deal, I sincerely hope and pray that you have not simultaneously gone ahead and agreed to any extension of bpTT contract beyond 2017, without letting us citizens know thereof the details and implications.

RICHARD WM THOMAS
Arouca