NP chair: We will continue to provide fuel

National Petroleum (NP) chairman Sahid Hosein says he's not "unduly disturbed" by Petrotrin's decision to exit the oil refining business because, as a wholesaler and distributor of fuels, NP "can source fuels from elsewhere."

Speaking with Newsday today, he acknowledged there is "an element of uncertainty, for now, in terms of where fuel is sourced," but reiterated that with many refineries selling fuel internationally, "it's not difficult to source fuel externally."

Hosein also noted NP has a sufferance wharf – a licensed private wharf where dutiable goods may be kept until the duty is paid – at its head office in Sea Lots, Port of Spain.

"Through our sufferance wharf, we bring in fuel at this point in time from Pointe-a-Pierre (Petrotrin's refinery) by ship. So I'm not unduly disturbed, because I'm sure all those concerns would have been looked at in their entirety before a decision was made to (by Petrotrin)."

Hosein made it clear NP's priority will be to "ensure the public suffers no hardship in terms of accessing fuel for whatever purposes they use it for. I'm confident the public is not going to be put in a space where they have to worry about where they're getting fuel from."

The fuel subsidy, he reminded, is set by government and would not necessarily change solely based on Petrorin's choosing to exit the oil-refining business.

"The fuel sold at pump is based on a particular price. Once it goes above that price, the State pays the difference to NP because NP buys the fuel at the prevailing international price from Petrotrin. At the end of the day, the subsidy is a government decision, which factors in food prices, transport costs, etcetera, and not simply who owns the refinery."

Hosein urged people not to panic-buy fuel because of messages circulating on social media, which he described as "fearmongering, fake news."

"We have supplies in reserve, so go ahead and do your normal business. It's only when you start to panic-buy that we have problems getting additional fuel to gas stations on time," Hosein said.