Young dismisses UNC claims Government in talks on Pointe-a-Pierre refinery

Energy Minister Stuart Young on Monday dismissed Opposition claims that Government was talking to parties other than the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) led Patriotic Energies and Technologies Co Ltd, which had previously expressed interest in the former Petrotrin refinery in Pointe-a-Pierre.

Patriotic's bid for the refinery was rejected by Government in February. Previous bids by Patriotic were rejected in January and last October.

Young said Trinidad Petroleum Holdings, the overall owner of the refinery, is submitting a marketing plan for Cabinet's consideration to seek potential bidders on the open market.

He also said a new request for proposals (RFP) for the sale of the refinery is being worked on. These matters were previously mentioned by Young's predecessor Franklin Khan (who died on April 17) and Finance Minister Colm Imbert.

Young also said the Trinidad and Tobago Upstream Downstream Energy Operations Company Ltd only sells natural gas to NiQuan and not to any other client.