Needless jamming over Petrojam

ON FEBRUARY 1, the first shipment under a deal between Jamaica’s refinery, Petrojam Ltd, and TT’s Paria Fuel Trading Co Ltd arrived. Almost as soon as these 50,000 barrels of oil arrived, needless controversy and political wrangling began.

Minister of Energy Stuart Young on February 3 defended the deal, saying it “makes sense for TT” as a net foreign exchange earner, and as a tool to support the country’s relationship with Jamaica and Caricom.

However, Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee described the arrangement as a “tragedy,” saying it comes after the closure of Petrotrin. Mayaro MP Rushton Paray said it was an ironic sign of the waning of TT’s energy dominance in the region.

It’s all an unfortunate storm in a teacup.

That storm detracts from the fact that this arrangement is the regional collaboration we need to see more of.

Yes, the Petrotrin refinery was closed by the current administration and this deal has re-ignited the memory of that.

However, that closure was a commercial decision taken by the Cabinet of the day. The factors that went into it are different from the basis for this separate arrangement.

Mr Young’s disclosure that the shipments will only be 500,000 barrels, or a fraction of Paria’s 17 million purchases per year, also brings into focus the need for a more even-handed and proportionate response. Opposition politicians may express their views, but it’s clear they have been using this venture simply as an opportunity to mouth off on the state of the energy sector more generally.

We strongly believe government agencies should support the goal of regional collaboration.

And that kind of collaboration is vital in revitalising not only the energy sector – while it remains a part of our economy – but also the non-energy segment of our economy.

There is something to be said about the importance, too, of “soft power,” or the building of goodwill in order to facilitate further exchanges and areas of co-operation. The opposition should understand this perspective given its own history, during the People's Partnership administration, of cross-Caricom ventures, such as that which it arranged, albeit briefly, with CAL and Jamaican entities.

However, until there is any evidence that this deal does not or cannot fulfil its stated objectives, criticising it sharply without a reasoned basis to do so only creates the impression that the main issue with it is the fact that it involves Jamaica.

That’s not a look any politician should embrace in our interconnected world. Let’s embrace our neighbours and see how this deal works.