Energy minister urges public to ‘not say much’ on refinery deal

TYRELL GITTENS

"We did not give away anything and we did not favour anybody."

This was the point made by Minister of Energy Franklin Khan as he addressed the recent national conservations surrounding the sale of the former Petrotrin Pointe-a-Pierre refinery.

At the official opening of the NP El Socorro service station, Khan took the opportunity to defend the process by which the government selected Pa­tri­ot­ic En­er­gies and Tech­nolo­gies Com­pa­ny Ltd (PET­CL) as the preferred bidder for the refinery.

Highlighting the bidding process as an international one, conducted by a multidisciplinary team he said, "Patriotic through a transparent process has been determined to be the preferred bidder." Taking aim at critics who may be questioning PETCL's ability to properly finance the bid he said, "This is a process and we must take our time."

Saying that in the next several weeks the details of the proposal and process will start to come together, he cautioned the public saying, "These loose statements in the general public is a detriment to the process." As the public waits for the ongoing process to move along he said, "I urge the population to not say much" as he notes that it is in the public's interest that the refinery becomes operational again.