Espinet takes blame for numbers confusion

CARLA BRIDGLAL

Mea culpa. Petrotrin chairman Wilfred Espinet has accepted the blame for conflicting retrenchment figures for the company, after Energy Minister Franklin Khan confirmed in Parliament Monday that close to 5,000 people will lose their jobs at the state oil company.

“Will you feel comfortable if I take full responsibility, which I do? The number has been stated and anywhere that anybody in TT has said the wrong number I take full responsibility for that,” an exasperated Espinet told reporters at a press conference yesterday at the Hyatt Regency Port of Spain.

With that, he said, he would no longer be answering questions from the media about “numbers.” “You want to take about figures. Talk about this number, $25 billion (to save Petrotrin) will cost $18,000 per person in TT,” he said.

When the company announced on August 28 that it would be shutting down the refinery, it had said in a release that all 1,700 people in the refinery would be terminated and at least 2,500 workers impacted. The next day, after Newsday asked if Exploration and Production workers as well as refinery workers would be retrenched, Espinet said all workers would be treated “reasonably, equitably and fairly.” Khan, on Monday, said 4,700 workers—3,500 permanent and 1,200 temporary—would be sent home. The company will also be rehiring staff based on qualifications for the role that needs to be filled, he added.

Espinet vehemently denied the company was trying to mislead the population. There was a high interest in Petrotrin, he acknowledged, but the company had to be careful about what information it gave the public and how it would be released.

“I want you to know the numbers we are giving to you are the numbers I know… I can’t imagine that anyone who has interacted with me would think I would say something to intentionally mislead people. We as a board have to take into consideration the sensitivity of some of these things and our responsibility to the shareholders,” he said.

Petrotrin was a commercial company, and as such the company is trying to ensure that it reports as a public company. As a state enterprise, though, there is an appetite for information “far beyond” what it can offer. Anything excess could be disruptive to operations, he said.

“At each stage we have been telling people what we are able to,” he said. There was no “conspiracy” to hide information, he said.