Patriotic given 15 days to prove it has $ for the refinery

PATRIOTIC Energies and Technologies Co Ltd has been given a second extension to prove its ability to purchase the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery.

Government has acceded to a request from the company to rethink Monday’s Cabinet decision to seek another partner for the restart of the refinery. The company has been given until February 5 to do so.

Pleased for another chance, Patriotic has vowed to do all it can this time around to convince government it is indeed the best fit for the task at hand.

In a brief release on Wednesday, Finance Minister Colm Imbert, in his capacity as corporation sole, said government has granted Patriotic a 15-day deadline to secure financing for the refinery.

Imbert’s announcement on Tuesday that Cabinet had withdrawn from the offer, alluded to an inability by Patriotic to secure the US$500 million financial commitment to purchase the refinery – a claim the company has denied.

Imbert’s statement read in part: “The corporation sole wishes to inform the public of the following Cabinet decision with respect to the acquisition of the Petrotrin refinery.

“By letter dated September 25, 2019, Patriotic was informed that it was the preferred bidder for certain assets of Guaracara Refining Co Ltd (Guaracara) and Paria Fuel Trading Co Ltd, (Paria).”

He said the first item in the list of deliverables referred to in that letter, was “confirmation of its ability to finance the purchase and operation of the refinery.”

Patriotic in a letter to Imbert, dated January 18, insisted it had the backing of Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse to finance the acquisition price of US$500 million.

On Tuesday Patriotic’s chairman, and president general of its parent company the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), Ancel Roget, called on the Prime Minister to consider information regarding the backing of Credit Suisse, which the Government may not have been privy to before Cabinet took its decision.

In response, one of Patriotic’s directors Ozzi Warwick said, “We did make a request and they have acceded to our request for further discussions.”

Warwick said this was based on all the reasons Roget outlined at a news conference on Tuesday about the company’s ability to secure financing, restart the refinery, provide employment and earn foreign exchange by exploring old and new markets to supply with products.

“We are confident because of all these reasons. We would not have requested an opportunity to have discussions around that if we were not confident.”

Warwick said as the company has done in the past, it intends to meet every stipulation outlined, including the February 5 deadline and to, this time, sway government to give them the rights to own and operate the refinery.