UNC: Energy sector on sinking sand

OPPOSITION MP David Lee compared the energy sector to a man who built his house on sand, placing its fate on high energy prices without any sustainable work, policy or vision.

Lee warned that the minute the high oil and gas prices linked to the war between Russia and Ukraine decreases, the entire economy and TT’s revenue stream will crumble as there are no incentives to sustain competitive production.

Addressing the United National Congress (UNC) Monday night virtual report meeting, Lee said not a single dollar in increased energy revenue was due to any policy or plan by this government, but as a result of the European war.

Government’s strategies to boost production has failed he said, pointing to the failure of to attract international players to the deep and shallow water bids or the promised Dragon Gas.

In the last seven years, he said, TT's energy sector has plunged into chaos and crisis, registering its lowest oil and gas production in 18 years, witnessing the closure of many plants at Point Lisas, including Proman, which officials the Prime Minister has jetted off to Switzerland to meet.

Lee questioned if the PM’s trip was really about selling Clico’s Methanol Holdings share to Proman.

He accused both Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Energy Minister Stuart Young of not being honest on the true state of the energy sector. He said they had been boasting about the millions being earned by the energy sector when government crippled the down-stream sector and the budget was facing a $2 billion deficit.

He said TT would have been in a better position to earn billions more in revenue at this time of high oil and gas prices like other refineries around the world, had Government not shut down the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery.

Lee said, as refineries around the world cash in on profits from the European war, by as much as 600 per cent, the Prime Minister must be regretting his decision to shut down the Petrotrin refinery which is earning zero per cent and has transformed into a scrap iron heap.

Lee claimed that the refinery could have been treated as a going concern if Government wanted so badly to get it off its books as he claimed it was returning a profit up until its last year in operation.

On the other hand, he noted, that the company’s replacement, Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd, which recorded a $2.3 billion loss for 2019, is yet to produce financials to date.

He called on Government to state the true state of affairs at that company.

Turning to last Friday’s spotlight on the economy, Lee took Imbert to task for his optimism about taking this country on the path to recovery.

If the economy was this good, he said, government would not have put the country on alert for an increase in fuel prices, there would not have been headlines about the cost-of-living crisis, that the economy was on the decline, that teachers would not have had to rest and reflect on Monday and the protective services would have received an adequate pay package.

“This is the same man who promises you growth for seven years and he has not delivered a single year of growth.”

Touching on the upcoming budget, he accused business chambers of favouring Government’s fiscal packages, but appealed to them to open their eyes, use their intelligence and properly analyse the September 26 budget.