Patriotic optimistic about refinery deal deadline

Days before the October 31 deadline for an agreement on the acquisition of the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, preferred bidder Patriotic Energies ad Technologies Company Ltd says it remains optimistic.

The refinery was closed on November 30, 2018. In September 2019, Patriotic, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU), was named as the preferred bidder for the acquisition of the Guaracara Refining Company Ltd and Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd. Patriotic won the bid from among 77 expressions of interest.

Talks remained dormant for some time but before the August general election, at the launch of the Petrotrin Land Distribution Programme for workers who were terminated, the Prime Minister announced government’s readiness to sign off on the agreement with the OWTU.

Since then the parties, the OWTU and representatives from the Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd (TPHL), which is vested with the responsibility of managing the oil and related assets of the former state-owned Petrotrin, have been discussing the arrangement.

TPHL has four subsidiaries: Heritage Petroleum Company Ltd, Petroleum Company of TT (Petrotrin), Guaracara and Paria.

Patriotic had agitated for the government to sign on the dotted line before the election, but that did not happen.

In September, however, at the Spotlight on the Economy forum before the budget presentation, Dr Rowley announced that unless Government’s negotiations with Patriotic were completed by the end of October, the deal would be dead and new options would have to be sought.

One of Patriotic’s directors, Ozzi Warwick, said he was surprised by this ultimatum, as the company had been advocating for the sealing of the agreement for months.

Warwick said the refinery opening would affect job growth as some 5,000 jobs are expected to be created from the start-up. He also said it would attract foreign exchange.

The October 31 ultimatum was reinforced by Finance Minister Colm Imbert during his presentation of the 2020/2021 budget. He said then Government was engaged in protracted discussions with Patriotic.

However, Imbert warned if an agreement could not be reached on a viable or practical contractual agreement by the deadline, “after giving Patriotic all possible opportunities to finalise the terms of the agreement, the process will be brought to an end and the Government will consider all other options for the sale of the refinery.

Warwick told the Newsday on Wednesday, “The parties continue to work very hard in order to bring about a resolution to this issue within the stipulated deadline."

He clarified that, contrary to popular belief that the deadline is for Patriotic only, “The deadline is for the two teams, for both teams to come to a resolution.”

“From our end, we feel positive. We believe it is possible for the parties to resolve their issues in time for the deadline.”

Asked what would happen if an agreement is not finalised by then, Warwick said, “We are not contemplating that as yet. We continue to remain optimistic.”