OWTU: No evidence of Venezuela fuel scandal

OILFIELD Workers Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget said there is no evidence to support allegations by the Opposition UNC that Paria Fuel Trading Company sold fuel to Venezuela.

Roget rejected claims by the Opposition Leader that the UNC would reopen Petrotrin if it were re-elected.

Roget remained confident that Patriotic Energies and Technologies would be successful in its acquisition of Petrotrin’s Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, with a restart within ten months to a year.

He made all those comments at a news conference at the union’s Paramount Building office in San Fernando on Tuesday.

While saying if the Government sold fuel to Venezuela it should be condemned, Roget also slammed the Opposition Leader for asking the US government “to come and impose sanctions” on TT.

He suggested “maybe an investigation of some sort” could clarify the issue.

At the virtual health press conference on Monday, National Security Minister Stuart Young said the contract for the sale of fuel from Paria to Aruba had a clause preventing resale to sanctioned countries, including Venezuela.

“We have investigated this and I am happy to say the contract was a very clear contract with that sale of fuel to Aruba, which has happened in the past, because Paria supplies fuel throughout the region, including to Aruba.””

Roget rejected Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s promise to reopen Petrotrin if the UNC wins the next general election. He countered all Persad-Bissessar wanted to do was encourage “more corruption, more cover-up, more squandermania” by reopening Petrotrin.

He cited the PP government’s handling of the Petrotrin oil spill of December 2013 as an example.

He also said the UNC tried to block Patriotic from acquiring the refinery and never stopped the PNM from shutting it down in 2018.

While lamenting that the covid19 pandemic delayed the completion of the acquisition of the refinery, Roget remained optimistic the process would be completed. While the refinery will not be restarted this year, Roget said repairs and upgrades could be finished there by year’s end.