Kamla: No gimmicks on Petrotrin

CAUTION, not gimmicks, will be needed in the handling of Petrotrin, urged Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, weighing in on yesterday’s announcement of the shutdown of the state oil firm’s refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre.

In a statement, she urged the Government to take a “cautious and pragmatic approach.” She said the way Petrotrin’s restructuring is handled will have both immediate and long-term effects on the national economy and must not be done what she called the Government’s usual ad-hoc manner.

“The country has already been asked to wait until Sunday for a statement from the Prime Minister on an issue that has gripped the public’s attention for weeks and which has now been compounded by the statement from the board of directors, which blatantly ignored the workers, stating that it was cheaper to import fuel that to continue production.”

She said despite fears of massive job losses and the closure’s impact on a declining economy, the country endured endless gimmicks by the Government instead of a sober and deliberate message on the state of its affairs.

To embark on a restructuring of Petrotrin, without a detailed and well-articulated rollout plan, will be detrimental to the country's economic viability, Persad-Bissessar said.

She urged “a sensible and cautious approach” and humaneness.

Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee told Newsday he feared for social fallout from the closure.

“If they shut the refinery, what about the cost of petroleum products that are going to be imported? Are they now saying the prices will be adjusted to international prices? What becomes of the subsidies, and will these imported products no longer be subsidised?”

Lee added, “I’m sure that within a year after the closure they are going to lease that refinery to their friends and family.

“What happens to all the oil that is drilled and produced in Trinidad? Where it going to be refined? All those who are farm-out operators, are they going to go out of business? Will they shut down and their employees be paid off?”

Asked if it might be a bluff, Lee replied, “I really believe it’s a bluff. I think it’s a suppression thing and then they are going to say they saved the day.

“It is interesting also, why didn’t they say all of this last week before going to Venezuela? Is it that the Venezuelan deal is going to save the day for TT, shrouded in secrecy and no one aware of what transpired in that meeting?

“Are you using the ‘positive’ of the Dragon deal to now close down Petrotrin?”