Khan: Falling methanol, ammonia prices affected Point Lisas

ENERGY Minister Franklin Khan said the People's National Movement (PNM) should not be blamed for the idling of plants at Point Lisas.

He was speaking Tuesday night at a PNM campaign meeting in La Brea.

He said the country has challenges with downstream and a couple of plants have been put to idle or for repairs and maintenance. He added the UNC has been spreading the narrative that the idling of plants was because of a "high gas price" charged by the National Gas Company linked to a meeting the Prime Minister went to in Houston.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Khan said.

He said, at that time the industry was about to collapse and if there was no agreement on contracts "all hell would break loose."

Khan said what is happening in Point Lisas was due to the total collapse of the methanol and ammonia markets due to a fall in demand. He reported in January methanol and ammonia was trading at $400 per metric tonne but currently it is less than $200.

"The industry cannot survive by that. That is no fault of the PNM or Dr Rowley or minister Khan."

He said the country was doing well in upstream and was fortunate that bp, Shell, bhp and EOG maintained their level of investment. He added that bp and Shell have had a global cutback of 30 per cent but not in TT.

"TT remained untouched. Something good has to be happening here. It is because of a stable government led by Dr Rowley."