TTEITI mourns Khan's death

THE Trinidad and Tobago Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TTEITI) on Monday joined the list of individuals and groups expressing sadness over the death of Energy Minister Franklin Khan on Saturday.

In a statement, EITI described Khan, 63, as a towering figure in politics and energy and someone who always championed the EITI, transparency and accountability in the oil, gas and mining sectors.

It said it will remember Khan for his longstanding support of the EITI Standard, which is the global standard used in some 53 member countries for the good governance of oil, gas and mineral resources.

Chairman Gregory McGuire said Khan, as a geologist, "was very knowledgeable about the energy sector, and his knowledge and experience helped him during these particularly difficult times for the sector.”

He also said Khan "had to navigate a period of unprecedented crisis in the sector including sale of the refinery, increasing upstream gas prices and gas supply shortfalls, plant closures at Point Lisas, and the decline in oil, petrochemicals and LNG prices.”

Head of the TTEITI Secretariat Sherwin Long thanked Khan for his “tireless devotion to the energy sector,” He said Khan “remained committed to transparency reforms in the extractive sectors to the very end.”