Energy Minister: 4 firms vie for Pointe-a-Pierre refinery

Four international companies are interested in acquiring the Pointe-a-Pierre oil refinery, Energy Minister Stuart Young said on Friday, giving an update on the energy sector in the House of Representatives against an opposition motion condemning Government's handling of the economy.

He said the four were now going through the request for proposals (RFP) process to acquire the plant, and he and Finance Minister Colm Imbert were monitoring developments.

"There has been a visit from the first one. The second is either here now or are about to visit.

"They continue to go through the RFP process with international advisers, so all is not lost with the refinery and that continues to go on."

Overall he said, "The restructuring of Petrotrin has gone well from an economic and financial point of view."

He said in June the revenues of Heritage Petroleum Company Ltd, the State's exploration and production company, were reported as rising from $3.2 billion to $4.9 billion for the first nine months of 2020 and 2021 respectively. This equated to a rise in profit from $700 million to $1.2 billion, he added. Young said Paria Fuel Trading must be praised for supplying fuel to TT and Caricom countries seamlessly and at a profit.

Lamenting the former UNC government had drained $16 billion from the National Gas Company including $1 billion for the controversial Beetham Wastewater plant, Young boasted that NGC had just made a profit of $1.05 billion (after tax), compared to last year's loss.

Saying TT must stay competitive to attract foreign investment in the energy sector, he said his ministry and the Ministry of Finance were reviewing the supplemental petroleum tax (SPT) regime.

"We will be coming with an SPT fiscal regime that will be reformed. We're looking at it and they are working the numbers."

Young gave an update on TT's share of the formerly unitary Loran-Manatee gas field straddling the TT/Venezuela maritime border, (which TT will now explore alone due to sanctions against Venezuela).

"On the gas side, we've shown by the Manatee PSC (production sharing contract) negotiated with Shell that we can get across the line and remain competitive globally in attracting US$1.8 billion to the Manatee field." He said many other upstream projects would also attract investment.

"We've launched a deep water bid round. I've just come back from Houston with a team promoting that. There's a lot of interest from the current players and fortunately for TT we have major upstream producers. We have EOG, BHP, Shell, BP and smaller ones like Perenco and Touchstone. Some of these are interested in those deep-water rounds."

Young said in the first half of 2022 he will launch bid rounds for shallow waters and onshore.

"Again, we have already had a number of these companies nominate blocks that they are interested in." He said the Government was working hard for the population to ensure TT remains competitive in a rapidly-changing global energy landscape.

"We'll fight hard to derive the maximum benefit for the people of TT while staying competitive."

He boasted of rigs and platforms now being made locally. "We're going to see increased exploration and production."

He said BHP Billiton has increased gas production from 360 to 400 million cubic feet per day, due to cooperation with the Government and NGC and the attraction of investment..

Young hailed the Prime Minister for attracting investment by energy companies, by his visits to well-publicised Houston and Australia.

"Both of the EOG executives in Houston reminded me that it was the meeting with the Prime Minister a few years ago that gave them the confidence to continue to look at TT and they are now going to be aggressively investing here in the next two years."

Young said Dr Rowley's grueling trip to Australia had earned more interest in TT from BHP Billiton. He lauded a new joint venture of drilling between EOG and Heritage.

Young said EOG was expecting significant new oil production from the Soldado fields, despite covid19-related delays in production.

He keenly listed current projects by Shell, bpTT, EOG, Perenco and Touchstone, saying, "Lots is happening in the energy sector that didn't happen previously."

Young boasted of petrochemical companies like Nutria, Proman and Methanex, while saying several plants recently shut had been 30-40 years old and would have needed much work on them to comply with requirements for reduced emissions by carbon sequestration. However, he suggested building facilities for carbon capture, sequestration and injection near petrochemical plants at Point Lisas. (Instead of emission as a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide may be captured from facilities and then injected into oil wells to enhance oil recovery, especially in maturing/depleting fields increasingly common in TT.)

Voicing support for renewables, he hoped contracts could be signed by January for construction of a 102 megawatt solar park by Lightsource bp.

He said while TT is looking at diversification, it remains a hydrocarbon economy which is able to attract new investment, just like Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, Young said TT remained a hydrocarbon economy with the energy sector – oil, gas, LNG and petrochemicals like ammonia and methanol - contributing to 33 per cent of GDP. Rebutting the Opposition, he blamed high food prices on the pandemic which he said had affected every country in the world, with record inflation rates reported internationally on Friday. He said the Government had put a new 35 per cent tax rate on banks which have recently been making super profits.