Petrotrin refinery shut down

[zoom rader]

Trinidad formally expresses interest in refining Guyana’s oil



The government of Trinidad and Tobago has formally expressed interest in having an arrangement with Guyana to refine its oil. This was noted in a government document seen by this news agency.

The Guyana Standard understands that the Coalition administration is of the view that this is perhaps, a suitable option. It noted in the document that Petrotrin, Trinidad’s National Oil Company which was sold last year September to Patriotic Energies and Technologies Co Ltd, holds a refinery that has received extensive upgrading in recent years.

It was further stated in the document that if Guyana were to go ahead with this option, there would be a need for configuration investments since the refinery is currently configured to refine heavy to medium crude while Guyana produces sweet light crude. When all the outlying factors are considered however, the government is of the view that this option, which appears to be the best at the moment, should be given due consideration and studied.

To underscore its agreement to study the Trinidad option, the government highlighted that Guyana independently pursuing a large, petrochemical refinery is not a viable investment. It was keen to note that a traditional refinery with capacity of up to 200,000b/d would occupy hundreds of acres and take USD $5 billion of investments. It was further noted that a refinery’s construction might take more than 60 months and generate as a consequence, a negative net present value of USD $2.5 – 3.0 billion.

Source: https://www.guyanastandard.com/2020/01/ ... yanas-oil/

dIdn't our media report that the refinery was old and outdated? how come they are syaing that it was upgraded?

What was the reason for petrotrin's closure?
Loop summarized it as poor management, crippling debt and supply chain issue (not enough oil to profitably run)
Seems as though the equipment is fine.
http://www.looptt.com/content/petrotrin ... t-was-done

This proposed Guyana deal will be good.

i understad the reason.

i was just under the imrpession that the refinery was old and the upgrades were never completed due to mismanagement. how come we now saying that the refinery was upgraded and could handle guyanese oil?

Cause when PNM wants to get rid of something they will put a negative spin on it with their propaganda media houses.

Remember beech high school, they twisted the PNM people brains to believe it's no good.

Remember Couva Hospital?

Rememver PNM said Panday airport was no good? Now it's the best in the region.

Becareful reading PNM newspapers

A trini mind is easy to fool

[teems1]

Cause when PNM wants to get rid of something they will put a negative spin on it with their propaganda media houses.

Remember beech high school, they twisted the PNM people brains to believe it's no good.

Remember Couva Hospital?

Rememver PNM said Panday airport was no good? Now it's the best in the region.

Becareful reading PNM newspapers

A trini mind is easy to fool

Petrotrin was overstaffed with a huge wage bill and low oil prices. Stevie Wonder could have seen something had to be done.

Your ability to turn everything into some political fallacy or 1% conspiracy is quite amazing.

[matix]

Cause when PNM wants to get rid of something they will put a negative spin on it with their propaganda media houses.

Remember beech high school, they twisted the PNM people brains to believe it's no good.

Remember Couva Hospital?

Rememver PNM said Panday airport was no good? Now it's the best in the region.

Becareful reading PNM newspapers

A trini mind is easy to fool

Petrotrin was overstaffed with a huge wage bill and low oil prices. Stevie Wonder could have seen something had to be done.

Your ability to turn everything into some political fallacy or 1% conspiracy is quite amazing.

Do you think that the AV Drilling issue had anything to do with it?

[De Dragon]

Cause when PNM wants to get rid of something they will put a negative spin on it with their propaganda media houses.

Remember beech high school, they twisted the PNM people brains to believe it's no good.

Remember Couva Hospital?

Rememver PNM said Panday airport was no good? Now it's the best in the region.

Becareful reading PNM newspapers

A trini mind is easy to fool

Petrotrin was overstaffed with a huge wage bill and low oil prices. Stevie Wonder could have seen something had to be done.

Your ability to turn everything into some political fallacy or 1% conspiracy is quite amazing.

So, the solution is to shut everything down for a year, then look for a buyer who's definition of "cash upfront" is 3 years then we go see? Then you sell it to a conflicted OWTU, rehire a bunch of the very same people who couldn't run it in the first place? That's management?

[K_J_R]

i was under the impression that mismanagement was not the only issue. i remember reading in a few papers that the refinery very was old and upgraded dudnt finish.

i thought that that was one if the reasons. naybe i mistook whst was said.

https://newsday.co.tt/2018/09/03/full-t ... petrotrin/

Our Pointe-a-Pierre refinery is 101 years old and has reached the end of its commercially viable days. It is now at a stage where it is haemorrhaging cash and the cost of rehabilitating it is way more than its potential ever to be profitable, competitive or sustainable.

The only commercially sound and viable option is to close the refinery; export Petrotrin’s oil, which will be produced by an efficient and aggressive exploration programme

if what the PM said is true then how come we now saying the reinfery could be a place to run guyanese oil?

[hydroep]

What was old is new again. Grate is the Pee oN deM...

[zoom rader]

Cause when PNM wants to get rid of something they will put a negative spin on it with their propaganda media houses.

Remember beech high school, they twisted the PNM people brains to believe it's no good.

Remember Couva Hospital?

Rememver PNM said Panday airport was no good? Now it's the best in the region.

Becareful reading PNM newspapers

A trini mind is easy to fool

Petrotrin was overstaffed with a huge wage bill and low oil prices. Stevie Wonder could have seen something had to be done.

Your ability to turn everything into some political fallacy or 1% conspiracy is quite amazing.

Continue reading the Newspapers bro

[VexXx Dogg]

i was under the impression that mismanagement was not the only issue. i remember reading in a few papers that the refinery very was old and upgraded dudnt finish.

i thought that that was one if the reasons. naybe i mistook whst was said.

https://newsday.co.tt/2018/09/03/full-t ... petrotrin/

Our Pointe-a-Pierre refinery is 101 years old and has reached the end of its commercially viable days. It is now at a stage where it is haemorrhaging cash and the cost of rehabilitating it is way more than its potential ever to be profitable, competitive or sustainable.

The only commercially sound and viable option is to close the refinery; export Petrotrin’s oil, which will be produced by an efficient and aggressive exploration programme

if what the PM said is true then how come we now saying the reinfery could be a place to run guyanese oil?

The answer may be two paragraphs down.

The refining assets of Petrotrin can now be put in a separate company for opportunity attention. The OWTU will be given the first option to own and operate it on the most favourable terms.

[gastly369]

Wish others could have seen that

i was under the impression that mismanagement was not the only issue. i remember reading in a few papers that the refinery very was old and upgraded dudnt finish.

i thought that that was one if the reasons. naybe i mistook whst was said.

https://newsday.co.tt/2018/09/03/full-t ... petrotrin/

Our Pointe-a-Pierre refinery is 101 years old and has reached the end of its commercially viable days. It is now at a stage where it is haemorrhaging cash and the cost of rehabilitating it is way more than its potential ever to be profitable, competitive or sustainable.

The only commercially sound and viable option is to close the refinery; export Petrotrin’s oil, which will be produced by an efficient and aggressive exploration programme

if what the PM said is true then how come we now saying the reinfery could be a place to run guyanese oil?

[De Dragon]

JUHN Scarfy and Impsy probably know next to nothing about refinery and heavy industry operations despite being around it for so long. All they will ever see is $$$ to plunder and mismanage by them and their friends, family and financiers. Look at how much sheit THEY allowed to happen to PT, from Samsung billion dollar upgrade that was never completed, to WGTL in which they allowed Malcolm Jones and Ken Julien to rape us with a fishhook and then get away scot free.

[sMASH]

the negatives that they peddled about the refinery:
-it was old and costly to maintain
-it was over sized, that the local supply of crude was unable to keep it running, they had to import crude.
-it had the malcom jones WGTL loan bullet payment upcoming, and it cant sustain that.
-the salaries were too high.

the reality:
-it was old but most stuff was upgraded, so it could run. the upgrades are part of the loans that it owes
-it was never intended to function with only national supply of crude, it was intended to be a regional refinery. (as we are seeing now)
-the bullet payment didnt evaporate and disappear because PNM shut down the refinery. it still have to be paid. so what ever happened to it now, coudl have gone occurred, even with the refinery kept functioning.
-just like how u fire and pay off the people, u could go through ur labor force and stream line to suit.

and guess what, Espinet got petrotrin profitable, coming down to the last. if u leave out the malcom jones WGTL bullet payment, with all other constraints, petrotrin made money.

[hydroep]

A and V,
eh have to worry.

[zoom rader]

the negatives that they peddled about the refinery:
-it was old and costly to maintain
-it was over sized, that the local supply of crude was unable to keep it running, they had to import crude.
-it had the malcom jones WGTL loan bullet payment upcoming, and it cant sustain that.
-the salaries were too high.

the reality:
-it was old but most stuff was upgraded, so it could run. the upgrades are part of the loans that it owes
-it was never intended to function with only national supply of crude, it was intended to be a regional refinery. (as we are seeing now)
-the bullet payment didnt evaporate and disappear because PNM shut down the refinery. it still have to be paid. so what ever happened to it now, coudl have gone occurred, even with the refinery kept functioning.
-just like how u fire and pay off the people, u could go through ur labor force and stream line to suit.

and guess what, Espinet got petrotrin profitable, coming down to the last. if u leave out the malcom jones WGTL bullet payment, with all other constraints, petrotrin made money.

They did the same with caroni , but they never understood that caroni brought in US same as petotrin

[K_J_R]

i was under the impression that mismanagement was not the only issue. i remember reading in a few papers that the refinery very was old and upgraded dudnt finish.

i thought that that was one if the reasons. naybe i mistook whst was said.

https://newsday.co.tt/2018/09/03/full-t ... petrotrin/

Our Pointe-a-Pierre refinery is 101 years old and has reached the end of its commercially viable days. It is now at a stage where it is haemorrhaging cash and the cost of rehabilitating it is way more than its potential ever to be profitable, competitive or sustainable.

The only commercially sound and viable option is to close the refinery; export Petrotrin’s oil, which will be produced by an efficient and aggressive exploration programme

if what the PM said is true then how come we now saying the reinfery could be a place to run guyanese oil?

The answer may be two paragraphs down.

The refining assets of Petrotrin can now be put in a separate company for opportunity attention. The OWTU will be given the first option to own and operate it on the most favourable terms.

ok, so the owtu has the option to own, operate and rehabilitate as the pm put it.

but nothing was done with the refinery since the closure ent? so how they doing to startup and all of a sudden run the guyanese oils? how can they advertise the refinery as an option for guyana when the PM say that the reifnery has to be rehabilitated to make sustainable? ent that rehavilitation will cost time and money? so i supposed to believe they advertising a outdated old refinery that needs repairs, as a place to run guyanese oils?

unless you telling me that the reinfery was in good running condition when it was closed and it was not as old as they said it was?

to me this not adding up. maybe i am missing something.

[wing]

i was under the impression that mismanagement was not the only issue. i remember reading in a few papers that the refinery very was old and upgraded dudnt finish.

i thought that that was one if the reasons. naybe i mistook whst was said.

https://newsday.co.tt/2018/09/03/full-t ... petrotrin/

Our Pointe-a-Pierre refinery is 101 years old and has reached the end of its commercially viable days. It is now at a stage where it is haemorrhaging cash and the cost of rehabilitating it is way more than its potential ever to be profitable, competitive or sustainable.

The only commercially sound and viable option is to close the refinery; export Petrotrin’s oil, which will be produced by an efficient and aggressive exploration programme

if what the PM said is true then how come we now saying the reinfery could be a place to run guyanese oil?

The answer may be two paragraphs down.

The refining assets of Petrotrin can now be put in a separate company for opportunity attention. The OWTU will be given the first option to own and operate it on the most favourable terms.

ok, so the owtu has the option to own, operate and rehabilitate as the pm put it.

but nothing was done with the refinery since the closure ent? so how they doing to startup and all of a sudden run the guyanese oils? how can they advertise the refinery as an option for guyana when the PM say that the reifnery has to be rehabilitated to make sustainable? ent that rehavilitation will cost time and money? so i supposed to believe they advertising a outdated old refinery that needs repairs, as a place to run guyanese oils?

unless you telling me that the reinfery was in good running condition when it was closed and it was not as old as they said it was?

to me this not adding up. maybe i am missing something.

The Refinery was in good working order and making money as mentioned earlier. The reasons for closure were very flimsy and obviously were to protect someone. Restructuring could have taken place while the facility was running and people would be still employed. It is now very expensive to restart all the facilities from scratch as opposed to having a structured turnaround program for each plant.

[The_Honourable]

Patriotic still in ‘dealing’ to buy Petrotrin's Refinery



FOUR months after it was accepted as the preferred bidder for Petrotrin’s refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre, Patriotic Energies and Technologies Company Ltd is still in negotiations with the Government to acquire it.

The Sunday Express was told that Patriotic is in talks with a Cabinet-appointed committee headed by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Vishnu Dhanpaul.

Both parties have signed “serious” non-disclosure agreements on the matter, sources said.

The Sunday Express was not told when the matter will be concluded.

On September 20, 2019, Finance Minister Colm Imbert had announced that a company owned by the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) — Patriotic Energies and Technologies Co Ltd — was the preferred bidder to own and operate the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery after it won the bid to purchase the Guaracara Refining Company Ltd and Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd with a US$700 million offer. In its proposal, Patriotic had offered upfront cash consideration of US$700 million plus US$300 million for the non-core assets of the company.

Three-year moratorium

The company was granted a three-year moratorium on all payments of principal and interest, towards the purchase of the refinery and a further ten years, at a fair market interest rate, to complete the payment of the sum of US$700 million it has offered for the refinery.

In a subsequent interview, Imbert said Patriotic would be able to restart the refinery in less than 12 months since it won’t immediately have to raise its US$700 million payment.

In November, Patriotic delivered its response to a Cabinet-appointed committee.

“In this regard, the union now awaits a response from the evaluation committee on or before the end of the month.

“The OWTU is confident that its company, Patriotic, stands ready to move to the next stage of fully completing the acquisition process in a timely manner for the benefit of all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago,” the company had said in a release at the time.

The company had hoped to begin operations in early 2020.

[gastly369]

........

[The_Honourable]

Refinery negotiations delayed



A REQUEST by Patriotic ­Energies and Technologies for more ­information on the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery has caused a delay in the negotiations between the company and the Government for the sale of the Guaracara Refinery Company.

This was disclosed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley when he provided an update in response to a question from Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh in the House of Representatives yesterday.

The prime minister said before the bidding began, a data room where interested parties could come and see information related to the operations of the refinery had been created.

He said Patriotic, which is owned by the Oilfields’ Workers Trade Union (OWTU), has now ­indicated that it would like to see the actual refinery in greater ­detail.

As a result of this request, ­several subject matter experts—“that is, persons who are intimately fami­liar with the refinery as a physical entity”—are now preparing the ­additional information that ­Patriotic asked for.

He said based on the outcome of these negotiations a decision would be taken on the final buyer for the refinery.

“We hope to do so by the end of March,” the prime minister said.

Asked by Indarsingh if he was sure Patriotic was in a position to ­finance the purchase of the refinery, Rowley said he knew of “no withdrawal of enthusiasm” and that the process was on the way.

The prime minister acknowledged there was an “element of delay”, but he said the ­Government could not go at a faster pace than what Patriotic wanted and ­therefore if Patriotic had asked for additional information, that had to be part of the process.

PM: Back to square one if Patriotic loses interest

Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee asked what the situation would be if Patriotic, after it conducts its evalu­ation of the refinery, decided to withdraw its bid.

The prime minister said: “We go back to square one... The process generated Patriotic and we are working with them toward a point where if they complete their ­interest in the matter, then we have a re-start (of the refinery) at some time. What is happening now is that we are moving from the data room evaluation to looking at the actual refinery itself.

“This expert group is going to go through the refinery to ensure that (Patriotic) is clear on what the re-start would require and the investment in the re-start. If along the way Patriotic decides it is too much for them or they are no longer interested, well then we back to square one—we don’t have an interested party. And we will have a refinery which would be number 18 in the world which would not be operating.”

Is it that the Government does not know if, where and how much the preferred bidder can raise, and the preferred bidder now needs a tour of the installation to better position its bid?—Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal asked, before remarking: “What kind of Mickey Mouse business has been taking place on this matter?”

The PM countered: “Madam Speaker, that is not a question requiring an answer. That is an opinion and I am not prepared to comment on the opinion of an under-miner.”

“You playing the fool,” Moonilal rejoined. This caused the Speaker to rise and reprimand him for his “inappropriate language”, which she requested that he withdraw.

He did so.

Naparima MP Rodney Charles asked whether, on reflection, it was a mistake to close the refinery, ­given the problems the Government was encountering and the cost involved in re-starting the refinery.

The question was disallowed by the Speaker, to the apparent disappointment of the prime minister, who appeared to have a fiery ­response ready. He muttered to Charles: “Yuh lucky!”

Background

On September 20, 2019, almost one year after the November 30, 2018 closure of the Petrotrin refinery, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced in Parliament that Patriotic Energies and Technologies—a company owned by the OWTU—was the preferred bidder to own and operate the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery after it won the bid to purchase the Guaracara Refinery Company and Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd with a US$700 million offer.

In its proposal, Patriotic had offered upfront cash consideration of US$700 million plus US$300 million for the non-core assets of the company, including the Augustus Long Hospital.

However, the non-core assets were not offered for sale by the Government.

The company was granted a three-year moratorium on all payments of principal and interest, towards the purchase of the refinery and a further ten years, at a fair market interest rate, to complete the payment of the sum of U$700 million it offered for the refinery.

The prime minister stated then that the OWTU proposal was the best proposal which came out of a “very transparent, deliberate and extended process”.

Imbert, in a subsequent interview, said the company would be able to re-start the refinery in less than 12 months since it would not immediately have to raise its US$700 million payment.

In November 2019 the prime minister, speaking during a public meeting in the local government election campaign, said the Government would do every­thing reasonable to help the OWTU to acquire the refinery.

“In these battles for nationalism and the fight for survival and sustainability, we are all in this together,” he said. “We could visualise the OWTU leadership moving from pounding the pavements and shouting across the street, to being in the boardroom and taking serious decision about serious investments that could make their members seriously rich,” the prime minister had said.

In his final campaign address delivered at the PNM election conven­tion, the prime minister said Patriotic Energies and Technologies was to “reignite the flames at Guaracara” and would serve as a beacon of what was possible for every citizen.

Source: https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/ ... 8fa2e.html

[rspann]

I don’t got the money , but I have lots of enthusiasm. Can I has the refinery please?

[Lou Screuz]

Is it that the Government does not know if, where and how much the preferred bidder can raise, and the preferred bidder now needs a tour of the installation to better position its bid?—Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal asked, before remarking: “What kind of Mickey Mouse business has been taking place on this matter?”

is unfortunate that moonilal ended with the "what Mickey Mouse business has been taking place on this matter" - it gave rowlee a way out - and the speaker was only too happy to give it to him.

Because the first question was a very good one

[De Dragon]

PNM management 101:
Shut it down, give it to the most unqualified, conflicted buyer on overly generous terms, possibly get blanked, spend a gazillion dollars to restart it. Nice!

[rspann]

So you does bid first and then do the due diligence?

[rspann]

Didn’t growlers say it was a done deal?

[sMASH]

Is it that the Government does not know if, where and how much the preferred bidder can raise, and the preferred bidder now needs a tour of the installation to better position its bid?—Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal asked, before remarking: “What kind of Mickey Mouse business has been taking place on this matter?”

is unfortunate that moonilal ended with the "what Mickey Mouse business has been taking place on this matter" - it gave rowlee a way out - and the speaker was only too happy to give it to him.

Because the first question was a very good one

takes two hands to clap

[De Dragon]

Didn’t growlers say it was a done deal?

Done for JUHN Scarfy and the PNM is like Dragon/PT/Chinese HDC etc. which is it is done once they bank their cut.

[The_Honourable]

Roget denies Patriotic wanted more info on refinery deal



Pa­tri­ot­ic En­er­gies and Tech­nolo­gies Com­pa­ny Ltd did not re­quest any ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion from the Min­istry of En­er­gy.

In fact, the head of Pa­tri­ot­ic, union leader An­cel Ro­get said that the com­pa­ny was ready to pro­ceed three weeks ago and any de­lay was not their fault.

Ro­get fur­ther rub­bished state­ments made to the con­trary by Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley.

Dur­ing a Par­lia­men­tary ses­sion on Wednes­day, Row­ley was asked about the progress on the re­fin­ery take-over and claimed then that the ne­go­ti­a­tions were de­layed be­cause Pa­tri­ot­ic re­quest­ed more in­for­ma­tion.

"It is not cor­rect to say that Pa­tri­ot­ic is now re­quest­ing ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion. That sim­ply is not cor­rect," Ro­get said.

Row­ley said that the Gov­ern­ment could not go at a faster pace than Pa­tri­ot­ic want­ed.

Ro­get said that too is not true.

"Our in­spec­tion en­gi­neers are ready to con­duct such an in­spec­tion, we were ready three weeks ago. So it is not our fault for the de­lay," Ro­get said in an au­dio state­ment yes­ter­day.

On Wednes­day, Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley said that the ne­go­ti­a­tions to take over the re­fin­ery were de­layed be­cause the com­pa­ny re­quest­ed ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion. How­ev­er, Ro­get said there is no truth to that claim.

Pa­tri­ot­ic last met with mem­bers of the Min­istry of En­er­gy on the take over of the re­fin­ery on Jan­u­ary 15. Af­ter that meet­ing, the Min­istry is­sued a state­ment de­scrib­ing the meet­ing as pro­duc­tive.

In that me­dia re­lease, the Min­istry ac­knowl­edged that the next steps in­clud­ed a de­tailed in­spec­tion of the as­sets in the trans­ac­tion.

"It would be in­struc­tive though to go back to the me­dia re­lease on Jan­u­ary 15 fol­low­ing a meet­ing be­tween the Min­istry team and the Pa­tri­ot­ic team," Ro­get said.

"You can­not ex­pect to pur­chase an as­set with­out first hav­ing a thor­ough in­spec­tion of that as­set, giv­en the fact that that as­set was tak­en out of ser­vice over one year ago," Ro­get said.

"Next week's ex­er­cise would see us com­menc­ing such a process, its all part of the due dili­gence go­ing for­ward. You can­not ex­pect to shut down your car for a year and then have some­one buy it with­out hav­ing an in­spec­tion of its road­wor­thi­ness go­ing for­ward," Ro­get said.

"That's mad­ness," he added.

Pa­tri­ot­ic is whol­ly-owned by the Oil­fields Work­ers Trade Union (OW­TU).

The com­pa­ny put for­ward a US $700 mil­lion bid to take over the re­fin­ery and was se­lect­ed last Sep­tem­ber.

The re­fin­ery was moth­balled back in No­vem­ber 2018.

Source: https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/roget-d ... 7ce5f3f802

[Numb3r4]

This whole thing is a fairy tale....of epic proportions, I doubt Disney could top this.

[rspann]

I don’t believe Roget. Growlers don’t lie.

[The_Honourable]

Khan: We deal with Patriotic board, not OWTU

ENERGY Minister Franklin Khan said Government is dealing with the Patriotic board in its negotiations for the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery and not the Oilfields Workers' Trade Union (OWTU).

In a media release Friday he responded to several newspaper reports in which OWTU Ancel Roget "attempted to rebut the Honourable Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament regarding a slight delay in the negotiations with Patriotic Energy and Technologies Company Limited, strongly implying that the Honourable Prime Minister was not speaking the truth." Roget had said the company has not sought any time extension in its negotiations to buy the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery and the company has long been ready to inspect the refinery but has been delayed by having to wait for the Energy Ministry's nod.

Khan in his response recounted a number of facts on the negotiations. He pointed out on September 30, 2019, Patriotic Energy and Technologies Company, was chosen by the Government as the preferred bidder for the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery. Patriotic Energy and Technologies Company is a private limited liability company registered under the Company’s Act and Government deals with Patriotic Energy’s board of directors and not the OWTU.

"It is instructive to note that Mr. Roget is not a member of the board of directors."

In October 2019, the Finance Ministry of Finance gave Patriotic one month to respond to ten issues that the Government had concerns about.

"These issues were successfully addressed by Patriotic within the required time frame."

He said at a meeting on January 15 the Cabinet Sub-Committee appointed to deal with this matter together with members of the evaluation team and technocrats from the Energy Ministry met with Patriotic Energies.

"At that meeting the company indicated that they wanted to do a detailed due diligence and inspection of the refinery amongst other things, before it can proceed further with the negotiations."

By letter dated January 17 Patriotic Energies wrote to the Government outlining in detail its request for a due diligence review. The attachment to the letter entitled “Document Request List” outlined some 250 specific requests in various categories, not only pertaining to the refinery inspection and included areas of finance, contracts, labour and employee relations, license and permits, and environmental liability.

"This letter and its attachment clearly indicate that Patriotic requested significant additional information on the refinery."

Khan said in the interim Government has set up various teams of subject matter experts in the various disciplines to meet with Patriotic Energies and the refinery inspection should begin next week.

He added the Hansard record will show that the Prime Minister said: “So there is some element of delay involved, but we cannot go faster than Patriotic Energies is prepared to go and the evaluation committee has to have something to evaluate. So if Patriotic Energies has asked for additional information in this expert review of the plant, that is, the first part of the process.” Khan said the records will clearly show that Patriotic Energies requested a significant amount of additional information.

"The Government is committed to continue the negotiations and discussions with Patriotic Energies in good faith for the benefit of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. We are quite confident that an amicable conclusion would be reached."

Source: https://newsday.co.tt/2020/02/15/khan-w ... -not-owtu/

[De Dragon]

JUHN Scarfy lied? Nah! He never lies!