Petrotrin plants upgraded

State-owned Petrotin may be 100 years-old, but all the plants in the refinery have been replaced and upgraded. So said Congress of the People (COP) leader Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, who also said there was misinformation being fed to the public.

She said the impression being given was that the refinery was obsolete and must be closed.

However, Seepersad-Bachan said this was far from the truth.

She was at the time addressing trade union members and Petrotrin workers at a breakfast meeting hosted by the Movement for Social Justice(MSJ) at Cara Suites Hotel in Claxton Bay, today.

Seepersad-Bachan, who served as energy minister between 2010 and 2011, said the refinery went through three upgrades. The first in the 1970s, followed by two other upgrades in the 1990s and after 2010.

“When the refinery was upgraded in the 1990s we started to see the turn-around and benefits of that turn-around. And in 1998, workers would recall they had a profit sharing which was very profitable at the time”

“So I have a problem that we keep hearing about this 100 year-old refinery that needs to be closed. Yes the refinery is 100 years-old, but let us not give the impression that every plant in the refinery is a 100 years-old.

“There are a lot of old photographs of old plants circulating in the media. None of those plants exist now in the refinery of Petrotrin. They have all been replaced and modernise.”

Petrotrin, she also said, was at the forefront of technology.

“You are dealing with state-of-the-art technology, so I want to know where is this decision is coming from; that we have to gt rid of this old car that we have. Petrotin is not an old car. What are we going to do with these assets?”

She also showed images of the plants at the refinery.

MSJ leader David Abdulah said the closure of Petrotrin was going to affect a lot of people, and may even lead to deaths.

The closure of the refinery is set to begin on November 30.