Govt studying Petrotrin proposals

Acting Energy Minister Colm Imbert made the disclosure as he responded to a matter on the adjournment in the Senate on Tuesday night, raised by Opposition Senator Wade Mark. Indicating that Mark was wrong to say only the union submitted a restructuring plan, Imbert said Petrotrin has also made recommendations.

Promising all of these submissions will be reviewed, Imbert said, “We will in due course come up with a restructuring plan for Petrotrin that is in the best interest of all concerned.” He said the OWTU’s proposal included splitting the company into four operating units which each reporting to an independent autonomous managing director. He also said the union provided a quick-win document with various ideas, including how Petrotrin could improve production at individual wells.

The minister congratulated the OWTU for its “scientific and professional approach to this problem as opposed to the scaremongering of Senator Mark.” In raising this matter, Mark claimed that some 3,000 workers could be retrenched at Petrotrin and the Government had failed to develop a plan to restructure the company.

Imbert advised Mark to deal with the real issues facing Petrotrin rather than engaging in “histrionics.” As he referred to the company’s recommendations, Imbert said many people would not know that in July 2016, it cost Trinmar (which falls under Petrotrin) US$44 to lift one barrel of crude oil while a joint-venture arrangement which included Petrotrin was lifting the same barrel of oil at US$9.48. “These are the kinds of things as a country we need to look at. Not all this rhetoric of retrenching 3,000 workers,” Imbert said.