Petrotrin takes control of A&V Oil wells

YVONNE WEBB

HOURS after state-owned Petrotrin took control of the Catshill Field which was operated by A&V Oil & Gas Limited, came a warning from former energy minister Kevin Ramnarine for the company not to be too quick to lease it out to anybody.

As of noon yesterday, Petrotrin’s security personnel were on site at the Moruga fields, handing over custody from the operator to Petrotrin’s Productive Operations personnel, a statement from the company said. An inventory of the assets was also taken. The changing of the leases followed the dismissal by the Privy Council on April 26, of A&V’s application for permission to appeal against the order made by the Court of Appeal on February 8, refusing the operator an injunction to restrain the termination of the, Incremental Production Service Contract (IPSC).

A&V failed in its bid to obtain an injunction in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal, Petrotrin said. Reacting to the termination of the contract, Ramnarine said Petrotrin would have to weigh its option on whether it will take over the well and produce same or get into another IPSC, farm out or lease operatorship arrangement.

“Taking control means that the property will revert to Petrotrin. I don’t know what Petrotrin is going to do with it. They themselves are in a state of limbo,” he said, referring to changes the Board of Directors made in the reorganisation process on Wednesday.

He suggested, “in the event they intend to do a IPSC contract, I would recommend that it be given out in the process of competitive tendering. It should not be given out to who every they feel to give it out to.” Ramnarine said those fields are pretty remote from Petrotrin’s core operations and this is one of the reasons they were leased out to private operators. He said the location of these field would require proper checks and balances.