Khan: Refinery to be mothballed

THE Petrotrin refinery will be mothballed using nitrogen, with inventory being removed, said Energy Minister Franklin Khan, alluding to its possible future reopening. In the Lower House Budget debate today, he told the Opposition that this move does not need a certificate of environmental clearance, unlike a decommissioning of the plant. The shutdown takes place from October 15 to 31.

Khan said the country’s first import of refined oil will happen on October 17 and Petrotrin will export its first crude-oil shipment on October 27, consisting of half a million barrels.

Khan said Petrotrin will be restructured into a holding company and three others, Trinidad Petrotrin Holding Company, plus four subsidiaries. These are “Petrotrin.” for the legacy items of the existing Petrotrin; New Co One for exploration and production; New Co Two for terminal facilities and the old marketing operations (to import and re-sell refined product); and New Co Three, handling the refinery and its assets.

Khan was very confident that TT could export crude oil, as he rejected arguments that it is too sour (that is too high in sulphur content, a pollutant) and too heavy to be commercially viable. He insisted that foreign refineries do exist with the right specifications to handle TT crude. In fact he said TT crude is priced against a similarly constituted crude extracted in Colombia which at present fetches a handsome price on world markets of the West Texas Intermediary (WTI) price minus US$3. His boast that WTI was yesterday at US$75 per barrel, hinted that TT crude could be exported at US$72.