Patriotic committed to refinery acquisition

PATRIOTIC Energies and Technologies has sought to clarify comments made by the Government on the acquisition of the Pointe-a-Pierre assets of Trinidad Petroleum Holdings.

In a statement, Patriotic said it was not “uncommon for the parties to have divergent perspectives in early negotiation.”

It assured it will work with the Government “to improve the quality of communication between parties thus ensuring the smooth and successful completion of the acquisition,” in the interest of the people of TT.

On Friday, Energy Minister Franklin provided information on the negotiations. He also said the Government was dealing with the Patriotic Board in its negotiations for the former Petrotrin assets, and not the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) and its president Ancel Roget.

Earlier in the week, Roget attempted to rebut statements made by Prime Minister Dr Rowley in the Parliament about the slight delay in negotiations. Roget had said the company has not sought any time extension in its negotiations to buy the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery and the company has long been ready to inspect the refinery but has been delayed by having to wait for the Energy Ministry's nod.

In its statement on Sunday, Patriotic gave its own chronology of events from June 2019 to present.

According to the statement, in June 2019, Patriotic submitted over 200 questions to the Government’s agents during the RFP process. In August 2019, Patriotic was told that many of its inquiries would be addressed during the confirmatory due diligence process, which will begin next week.

On October 4, 2019 and again on November 4, 2019, in meetings with the Cabinet-appointed evaluation committee, Patriotic recommended working groups be constituted to aid in the efficient advancement and completion of the acquisition process

In November 2019, Patriotic said it demonstrated its readiness “by the timely, thorough and successful response to the ten areas of concern of the Government.”

“Patriotic has been ready to enter into the confirmatory due diligence exercise for at least eight months since its original submission of inquiries in June 2019,” the statement said.

On January 15, Patriotic said it met with the Cabinet sub- comprising of: Ministers Stuart Young, Franklin Khan, Robert Le Hunte and permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and head of the evaluation committee, Vishnu Dhanpaul.

“At that meeting, Patriotic discovered that the sub-committees were unaware of its communication with their agents made since June 2019 and again in August 2019 nor were arrangements made for the working groups to be constituted by the evaluation committee,” it added.

It said also on January 15, the Energy Ministry issued a press release expressing their satisfaction with the meeting held and their optimism moving forward and two days later, Patriotic forwarded the June 2019 inquiries along with the recommendations of October 2019 and November 2019 to the sub-committee.

It said on February 12, Patriotic was advised by the boards of Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd (Paria) and Guaracara Refining Company Ltd (Guaracara) of the constitution of the recommended working groups they recommended the previous year.

The next day, the boards of Patriotic, Paria and Guaracara agreed to initiate a meeting with the working groups starting this week and to collaborate on the creation of a detailed timeline for all residual requirements for the completion of the acquisition process.

“Patriotic remains focused on its mission to provide positive stimulus to the economy of TT via the creation of up to 4,000 jobs during the refurbishment and restart exercise of the refinery and terminal.

“This will inject hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign exchange into our country and billions more when fully operational.

“As a net foreign exchange earner, Patriotic will have a positive impact on the nation’s balance of payments accounts contributing to the ease of doing business in TT,” the statement said.