OWTU hopeful refinery will stay in local hands

THE Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) said it has been working assiduously over the past four months to ensure that the assets of the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery remain in the hands of nationals.

Responding to Trinidad Petroleum Holding Ltd’s (TPHL) offer of an exclusivity period for the union to make its bid, the OWTU said it was optimistic that it would satisfy all the criteria required to acquire the refinery’s assets.

On Tuesday, TPHL offered Patriotic Energies and Technologies Co Ltd (Patriotic), a limited-liability company established by the OWTU, the first option to acquire selected assets of the refinery, ahead of other potential buyers.

TPHL said the period of exclusivity would start two weeks before it invited other potential buyers to participate as it launched the process of leasing/selling the refinery. The refinery’s assets have been placed in one of TPHL’s four subsidiary companies, Guaracara Refining Co Ltd, after the closure of state-owned Petrotrin on November 30, 2018.

TPHL clarified, however, that while the offer would put Patriotic in an advantageous position, “The procedures, requirements and deadline for submission of the final proposal would be the same for all interested parties, including Patriotic.”

In a statement, the OWTU confirmed that it had received the letter in which it was invited by TPHL to prepare and finalise its bid for the acquisition of the refinery and that it had been given an exclusivity period in which to do so.

The union said in response to the offer by the Prime Minister for it to bid to run the refinery, “The OWTU has worked assiduously over the last four months to construct a team of credible and experienced partners of international repute.”

It is optimistic that, “by incorporating Patriotic and constructing its powerful consortium, we are confident that we will satisfy all criteria required to acquire the PAP assets of TPHL.”

The union said Patriotic’s proposal to own, modernise and profitably operate the assets with world-class management would be in the interest of all of TT.

“Ensuring that these assets remain in the hands of nationals will guarantee that all of the people of TT benefit,” the statement ended.

In its letter of exclusivity to Patriotic, TPHL also thanked the union for its preliminary non-binding cash proposal and offered to assist it in better positioning itself in the process.

Accordingly, TPHL said Patriotic would be granted early access to a virtual data room containing confidential information on the assets. It would also have an opportunity to engage in exclusive discussions with TPHL and its financial adviser “regarding the procedures to submit a conforming, fully-financed final proposal to acquire the assets that would meet our objectives.”

All parties have agreed to a non-disclosure agreement.