OWTU confident it will win bid for Paria

AMID confusion over the sale/lease or other arrangements for the Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd, one of the bidders for its assets, the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU), has said it is confident it will be the successful bidder.

Chief education and research officer Ozzi Warwick said the union was observing with keen interest the claims and counter-claims by other players over the last weeks about what is to be done with the company.

Apart from Energy Minister Franklin Khan contradicting claims by chairman of Trinidad Petroleum Holding Limited (TPHL) Wilfred Espinet that the assets were for sale, there have been disclaimers that Paria has been sold to a Barbados oil company Simpson Oil Ltd.

The union, through its limited liability company, Patriotic Energies and Technologies Co Ltd (Patriotic), is among 50 bidders, according to the Prime Minister.

At the Energy Conference earlier this year, Dr Rowley projected that the entire process of receiving bids and evaluating and selecting the successful bidder would be completed by the end of June.

Patriotic has also made a bid for the assets of the refinery and was given the first option to acquire selected assets, ahead of other potential buyers. It has also submitted a proposal for the Augustus Long Hospital.

Warwick was very guarded about commenting on the present debacle, saying the union was bound by the confidentiality agreement with TPHL.

“We are looking on with interest, but we are bound by the non-disclosure act. All I can say is that we are forging full speed ahead with our proposals.

“We are very optimistic it would be given to us, but have to be very careful what we say, because we are the ones in the public domain...

“We are open and transparent about our bid, but because we do not know who else, in order not to jeopardise the process or give the other bidders a competitive advantage, we have to be careful what we say.”

He admitted everyone knew the union was bidding, "but there are other competitors and the sad thing about this is that no one knows who the other competitors are.”

Warwick also said he was not at liberty to speak on future projections for Patriotic in oil and gas enterprises or downstream operations at the moment.

In a sign of its confidence, Patriotric has already advertised key positions for the company.

Rowley said Paria was an asset which Government would leverage to the best interest of the people of TT once fuel security for the country and the ability to control affordability for the population could be guaranteed, and wass optimistic that the refinery could restart operations before the end of the year.

Warwick said the sooner that happens, the better for TT ,and that the best interest for the people of TT was to sell/lease the assets to Patriotic.

It is a position advocated for by leader of the Movement for Social Justice David Abdulah. A Petrotrin retiree, he said it would be a mistake to place the assets in the hand of foreign concerns, as this would be tantamount to the re-colonialisation of TT.