Tewarie: ‘Will cooking gas go up?’

THE prospect of a hike in the price of cooking gas was raised by Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie yesterday in the House of Representatives’ budget debate.

Saying Petrotrin will no longer pay a $170 million annual subsidy on the consumer cost of cooking gas known as LPG, he asked if the Government will subsidise it, or would Phoenix Park Gas Processors, a viable source of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) recently cited by Energy Minister Franklin Khan.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert muttered something from his seat in reply.

Tewarie replied, “So you will subsidise it but raise the price?”

The MP also questioned the validity of Petrotrin’s plans to continue to supply Caricom neighbours with refined products, but this time by importing for resale, in place of its traditional export of the products it refined at Pointe-a-Pierre.

Tewarie asked whether Imbert’s calculations of revenues for the 2019 budget had factored in a loss of personal income tax from some 5,000 workers due to be retrenched from Petrotrin.

He called for details of the infrastructure needed to supply TT with natural gas from Venezuela’s Dragon Field. Who will build the pipeline, and when, he asked. Who will pay for it, and will these costs be shared? What beneficial arrangements in the infrastructure will be enjoyed by the governments of TT and Venezuela, Shell and the National Gas Company, Tewarie pressed. Will the Dragon gas be used to supply downstream industries in TT or the Atlantic LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) trains?

He said TT is now more dependent on the energy sector than ever before.

Tewarie alleged that projections of a 1.9 per cent growth in the economy for 2019 did not take into account the effects of the closure of the Petrotrin refinery. Alleging 55,000 jobs had been lost under the Government, he asked, “So where’s the growth? The new jobs?”