Browne not surprised by govt's rejection of Patriotic proposals for refinery

Former government minister Mariano Browne says Government's rejection of Patriotic Energies and Technologies Co Ltd's proposals to purchase the Petrotrin refinery is not surprising.

"I expected that the government would have refused the bid. I did not anticipate OWTU’s success in getting the assets. There are strategic reasons for that because whoever gets Petrotrin’s assets is in control of the storage facilities for the distribution of fuel to the country," Browne said.

"So technically, the government will be handing over a monopoly. I do not see any government handing over a monopoly to a trade union."

If Paria is importing, it loses its operating capacity because it will not have control of the tank farms.

Browne reiterated whoever controls the refinery needs the tank farms because there are not enough serviceable units. The company would need the tank farm to store crude as well as the finished products, he said.

Browne recalled that the Finance Minister Colm Imbert made several concessions and disclosures which Patriotic did not ask for in its initial submission.

"It will be difficult not to conclude that the government was being friendly to the bid based on the concessions the government was prepared to offer.

"Presuming that government was prepared to give the deal to OWTU, one could say maybe the government was not pleased with the bid. Or two, it never considered giving it to the OWTU in the first place."

Emphasising that there are many risks involved in restarting the refinery, Browne believes that the proposals did not pass muster.

"This (restarting) was always going to be difficult, and this is where we are, in difficulty. We have to wait and see how this thing pans out.

"All parties see the risks. The government will bear responsibility if anything happens. They have to consider many things."