Stuart: Wylie hiring is above board

MIKE WYLIE, Heritage Petroleum Company CEO, was recruited by two reputable firms who selected him from three finalists including an Iranian and a Japanese national, said Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young.

As one of the successor firms of the former Petrotrin, Heritage will do the exploration and production (E&P) of crude oil for export.

While Wylie’s $240,000-a-month salary was sharply criticised as “obscene” by the Oilfield Workers' Trade Union, which represents many laid-off workers at Petrotrin, Young suggested all was above board in the hiring yesterday as the House of Representatives debated legislation to vest Petrotrin’s assets into its successor firms.

Lamenting any “personal attack” on Wylie, Young said the new CEO’s resume speaks for itself.

Admitting to Opposition claims that Wylie was hired in August, Young said back then it would have been known that one part of Petrotrin would need to go forward as a viable firm to do E&P duties. “You don’t wait for the incorporation of the new company,” Young reasoned.

Boasting that the exports of crude oil now earn this country US$3 a barrel above the quoted price of West Texas Intermediary (WTI), Young quipped, “That’s why Mr Wylie was hired.”