TRINIDAD 1

BHP oil strike revitalizes offshore sector

As part of a deepwater drilling campaign offshore, Australia’s BHP drilled two additional exploration wells with one discovery and one well classified as dry.

BHP platform off Trinidad and Tobago                  Source: BHP

In its operational update for the third quarter BHP said that the two wells were located in the Northern licenses and were a part of the company’s Phase 4 deepwater drilling campaign.

The Boom-1 well was spud on August 28 and encountered hydrocarbons. Evaluation and analysis of the well are currently ongoing.

The second well, the Carnival-1, was spud on September 30 and reached total depth after the end of the September 2019 quarter. The well was a dry hole.

Drilling of the two wells completed the exploration program on the Trinidad and Tobago Northern licenses. Evaluation and development planning studies of the discoveries in the North are ongoing.

Following Carnival-1, the Deepwater Invictus rig will return to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to complete regulatory abandonment work on Shenzi appraisal and exploration boreholes.

BHP approved $283 million in funding to develop the Ruby offshore project in August. In April, BHP found hydrocarbons in its Bélé-1 exploration well.

More oil in Mexico

In its operational update BHP shared the results of the Trion 3-DEL appraisal well offshore Mexico, which the company spud in July 2019. It was encouraged by the preliminary results, with the well encountering oil in the reservoirs up-dip from all previous well intersections.

Evaluation and analysis were ongoing, with no further appraisal wells anticipated. BHP set aside $256 million for the Trion 3-DEL back in February 2019 following an oil discovery at the Trion field. BHP’s well, which made the discovery, was the first well drilled by an international operator in the Mexican deepwater. BHP – then BHP Billiton – successfully bid on the Trion field in 2016 as Mexico’s Pemex sought an experienced deepwater player to share costs at the Trion discovery due to its depth and complexity. Once fully appraised, Trion is expected to be in the top 10 fields discovered in the Gulf of Mexico in the last decade. BHP holds a 60% interest in the Trion field and the remaining 40% is held by the Mexican company.

October 17, 2019

Trinity Exploration & Production plc

Q3 2019 Operational Update

Return to drilling, positive results from SCADA trial and increasing base production

Trinity, the independent E&P company focused on Trinidad and Tobago, today provides an update on its operations for the three-month period ended 30 September 2019 (“Q3 2019” or “the period”). During the period, Trinity continued to focus on maintaining base production, drilling new infill wells, generating free cash flow and protecting the business from downside risk.

Trinity has now completed four new onshore infill wells as part of its H2 drilling programme, including the Company’s first High Angle Well (“HAW”), FR 1807, which has to date performed in line with expectations. Two of the four new infill wells drilled to date were brought on production during Q3 2019, with a third brought on production subsequent to the period end. As a result, base production has risen steadily (October average to date: 3,017 bopd) with an expected year end exit production rate of c.3,400 bopd.

Focus on optimising and protecting base production is a strategic company priority, including piloting the use of Weatherford International plc’s proprietary Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (“SCADA”) platform. The two wells being trialed with the new SCADA technology have, to date, seen material production increases and the Company is very encouraged by the early results of the trial.

During the period, Trinity also took advantage of a spike in oil prices following the Saudi Arabia drone attacks to implement a further tranche of its hedging programme which is designed to partially mitigate the impact of Supplementary Petroleum Tax (“SPT”) whilst retaining upside exposure to rising oil prices over the majority of production,. As a result, Trinity now has a total of 35,000 bbls per month hedged    (c. 41% of Q3 2019 production).

Q3 Operational Highlights

  • Group average production volumes were 2,816 bopd for the period, which is a 3% increase on the same period last year (Q3 2018: 2,734 bopd) but represents a 6% quarter on quarter decline (Q2 2019: 2,996 bopd). The lower than expected Q3 2019 production volumes was due to a combination of weather-related electrical supply disruptions, low availability of swabbing and workover rigs due to a bottleneck in rig certifications and higher than normal closing stocks (sold post period end). The rig issue is being resolved with the backlog of pending approvals beginning to clear
  • A total of 10 recompletions (“RCPs”) (Q2 2019: 3) and 25 workovers (Q2 2019: 36) were completed during the period
  • The RCP at Trintes was completed and brought on production on 30 September 2019
  • FR1807, our first HAW, has to date met our expectations. Reservoir pressure data, as we continue to optimise the well and draw down the downhole pressure, points to the well being able to produce its pre-drill prognosed rate of 134 bopd once fully optimised. We continue to monitor the well for oil, water and sand production but to date those parameters remain stable
  • The Company commenced continuous production monitoring and optimisation through the use of SCADA onshore via the partnership with Weatherford International plc
  • The two onshore trial wells using the SCADA system are deployed on a progressive cavity pump well and a sucker rod pump well, the two most common pumps used onshore. Results from both wells to date are giving material production increases and important new production data, in real time. The results and learnings to date are enabling the selection of wells for a more extensive roll out programme that is being planned for the coming months
  • Technical and commercial discussions on Galeota with the Ministry for Energy and Energy-Related Industries, our partner Heritage Petroleum Company Limited and technical providers have continued.

Strong Balance Sheet

  • Cash balance of US$15.6 million (unaudited) as at 30 September 2019 (30 June 2019: US$17.8 million)
  • The reduction in cash balances is largely a function of new drilling related investment capex in the period ahead of the commensurate benefit in production revenues
  • Trinity has continued to implement its hedging strategy which is designed to protect the Group’s free cash flows by partially mitigating the impact of SPT whilst retaining upside exposure to rising oil prices over the majority of production
  • A further hedge was put in place, on attractive terms, during the short period when oil prices spiked as a result of drone attacks in Saudi Arabia
    • 3-Way Option (12 month tenor) for 10,000 barrels per month
      Put spread of US$50.0 – US$56.0/bbl with a call strike of US$65.5/bbl
      Total of 35,000 barrels per month now hedged (41% of Q3 production)

Post Period End Highlights

  • The third infill well in the H2 drilling campaign commenced production on 9 October
  • The fourth infill well which spudded on 30 September was completed on 8 October and will be perforated and brought on production in the next few days
  • The rig will move on to the fifth well location shortly, following routine maintenance work, and the Company now expects to complete this, and a sixth, well during Q4 2019
  • Initial Cumulative Production (“ICP”) from the three new wells that have currently commenced production has been over 50% ahead of the pre-drill prognosis (despite still not yet including the full impact of the ongoing HAW optimisation)
  • Strong contributions from these three new infill wells have seen current production rising steadily (October average to date: 3,017 bopd) with an expected year end production exit rate of c.3,400 bopd

Outlook

The focus for the remainder of the year will be on completing and evaluating lessons learned from the H2 2019 onshore drilling campaign, preparation for further drilling in H1 2020, the continued monitoring of the two trial SCADA wells and the preservation of base production. Results from the first HAW will help determine future well locations with the Company fully focused on growing production whilst maximising free cash flow generation. With a low operating break-even and with new infill wells increasing production, the Company intends to further strengthen cash generation levels and the balance sheet.

In addition, the Company will continue to progress the Galeota development and consider opportunities that may arise in the changing local market with the aim of affecting a step change in longer-term production capabilities.

Bruce Dingwall CBE, Executive Chairman of Trinity, commented:

“We continue to focus on increasing our low-cost high margin production while developing our asset base and utilising new technologies in order to maximise the resultant returns. The Company is pleased with the production achieved by the three new completed infill wells, including from our first HAW which we see as integral to achieving our growth ambitions going forward.

“When we couple these new higher production levels, our low cost base and the increased production rates seen on our trial digital SCADA wells, we believe we are in a great place to move forward as a free cash flow generating business with significant upside potential.”

Enquiries:

For further information please visit www.trinityexploration.com

EU imposes 5-year tariff on fertilisers

Methanol Holdings Ltd plant at Pt Lisas. The European Union has imposed a five-year tariff on fertiliser shipped by the company to Europe. FILE PHOTO

Methanol Holdings Ltd plant at Pt Lisas. FILE PHOTOMethanol Holdings Ltd plant at Pt Lisas.

The European Union imposed a five-year tariff on fertiliser shipped by Methanol Holdings Ltd to Europe,following a European Commission (EC) final ruling on October 8, based on a complaint by Fertilizers Europe in June 2018, claiming TT, Russia and the US were dumping product, resulting in material injury to European producers.
According to the ruling, the dumping margin (the per cent difference in price sold in the importing country versus the price sold in the exporting country) for TT’s product was 55.8 per cent and the underselling margin (considered a type of predatory pricing) was 16.2 per cent. The ruling came into effecton 10 October and will last for five years.

The EC said in its ruling: “In view of the conclusions reached with regard to dumping, injury, causation and union interest, definitive anti-dumping measures should be imposed in order to prevent further injury being caused to the union industry by the dumped imports of the product concerned.”

It ordered a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of mixtures of urea and ammonium nitrate in aqueous or ammoniacal solution, currently falling under CN code 3102 80 00, and originating in Russia, TT, and the US. TT received the lowest tariff imposition of the three.

Trinidad producers of UREA ammonium nitrate (UAN) must now pay a €22.24 (TT$174.14) per tonne tariff on fertiliser shipped to the EU.
Representing the case for TT was Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd (MHTL), a subsidiary of Swiss conglomerate Proman, the parent company of some of TT’s major petrochemical producers, including Caribbean Nitrogen Co Ltd and Nitrogen 2000.

MHTL was aware of the EC’s preliminary decision in July to impose the five-year tariff on the three countries. As the sole UAN producer in the Caribbean, MHTL engaged the commission on the issue since it was first raised. It has kept the Ministry of Trade and Industry and other stakeholders informed. The company had taken the possibility of these tariffs into account as part of its regular forecasts and contingency planning and will continue to utilise its global integrated supply chain to ensure customers’ needs are met.

“We were surprised by the European Commission’s decision to pursue these measures to protect European producers, which we have made clear throughout our discussions with the commission. Like other globally competitive UAN producers, we are disappointed by the commission’s recent findings, and are assiduously exploring all of our available options.”

The downstream petrochemical sector is a major revenue earner for TT.

According to the 2019 review of the economy, the production and export of UAN increased sharply. During the first ten months of fiscal 2019, UAN output rose by 37.1 per cent to 1,237,400 metric tonnes, from 902,500 metric tonnes in fiscal 2018. UAN exports likewise increased by 30.3 per cent, from 953,100 metric tonnes, to 1,242,000 metric tonnes.

The petrochemical manufacturing sector overall contributed $11.38 billion to GDP in 2018, or 7.3 per cent.

Columbus Energy spuds Saffron well in South West Peninsula

11 Oct 2019
Columbus Energy, the oil and gas producer and explorer with operations in Trinidad and Suriname, provided an update on the Saffron well in the South West Peninsula, Trinidad.

The drilling rig to be used for drilling the Saffron well (Talon #38) is now on location and commenced drilling operations following official Ministry inspection and approval.

Leo Koot, Executive Chairman of Columbus, commented:

‘The Company is pleased that the rig is on site and we are ready to commence drilling operations in the next few days. The Company notes that its preferential access to the Talon #38 rig means there is no material cost whilst waiting for the drilling operations to commence.’

South West Peninsula Exploration – Appraisal – Development (24 September 2019) the Saffron well will test three different horizons, the Upper Cruse, the Middle Cruse and the Lower Cruse (the primary target) and will be drilled to a total depth of 4000 – 4500 ft.

The company will advance to drilling with the 8½ inch pilot hole.

It expects the well will take approximately 30-45 days to complete and evaluate and will update the market when appropriate.

Leo Koot, executive chairman commented: “The Company is pleased to receive Ministry consent for the Saffron well and, as mentioned at the AGM, I will be actively involved at the rig-site during the critical phases of the well campaign.

“This has been the culmination of many years of commercial structuring, technical work, planning, and, more recently, site preparation activities. We will update the market as drilling activities on Saffron progress.”

Source: Columbus Energy

State amassed $2.4 billion from Tax Amnesty

The Fi­nance Min­is­ter announced that oil com­pa­nies con­tributed the most rev­enue dur­ing the 2019 tax amnesty be­tween June 15 and Sep­tem­ber 30.

High­light­ing the seg­ments that made up the tax rev­enue, he said

      • $750 mil­lion , in tax­es in the three months this year came from the oil com­pa­nies.
      • Cor­po­ra­tion tax­es amount­ed to ap­prox­i­mate­ly $600 mil­lion and
      • Tax­es from for­eign com­pa­nies were $431 mil­lion.
      • The rest came from in­di­vid­u­als.

The 2019 Tax Amnesty gained the coun­try $2.4 bil­lion, $1.6 bil­lion more than ex­pect­ed .

In 2016 a tax amnesty tar­get­ed $500 mil­lion and raised $750 mil­lion. A Tax Amnesty this year as government pre­pared for the rev­enue au­thor­i­ty targeted $700 mil­lion to $800 mil­lion.

It is usu­al­ly a norm for the coun­try to en­ter in­to the bud­get pe­ri­od with an over­draft of 95 per cent.

“It’s a fea­ture of T&T that per­ma­nent sec­re­taries wait un­til Ju­ly and Au­gust and then they get mass­es of files com­ing to the Min­istry of Fi­nance be­cause they’re all try­ing to spend what re­mains in their al­lo­ca­tion.”

Be­cause cheques are writ­ten in Sep­tem­ber, they have to be dealt with, in Oc­to­ber or No­vem­ber— which make them “two of the most dif­fi­cult months for a gov­ern­ment.”

How­ev­er,  be­cause of the rev­enues gen­er­at­ed from the tax amnesty, the over­draft per­cent­age fell to 82 per cent.

He took time to men­tion the in­vest­ments to come to To­ba­go.

He “heard a com­men­ta­tor com­plain­ing that we are on­ly al­lo­cat­ing $200 mil­lion for cap­i­tal de­vel­op­ment in To­ba­go.” The cost to build the new air­port ter­mi­nal in To­ba­go is $870 mil­ion.

State agen­cies like WASA will be spend­ing $1bil­ion in To­ba­go in the fis­cal year 2020 for in cap­i­tal ex­pen­di­ture. “So when you add that up, $1 bil­lion from oth­er agen­cies, $200 mil­lion to the House of As­sem­bly di­rect­ly, $300 mil­lion loan ap­proval, that’s $1.5 bil­lion and then you put in the air­port that’s $2 bil­lion dol­lars.”

The ac­tu­al in­vest­ment is ten times the num­bers from the crit­ics.

The air­port ter­mi­nal will be a state-of-the-art fa­cil­i­ty and the up­com­ing con­struc­tion in To­ba­go will bring the is­land “in­to the mod­ern age.

BP

Looney must adapt in the top job at BP

An Upstream opinion
Adapt or die, oil majors told – so it cannot be business as usual for Looney or BP

Dudley ‘preparing to stand down from BP’

BP Confirms Looney As Dudley’s Successor

10 October 2019 9:30
by Editorial

OPINION: It looks like business as usual at oil supermajor BP with the decision to appoint Bernard Looney as the new chief executive.

The 49-year-old is Irish by extraction and is often seen without a tie, but that’s one of the few things that distinguishes him from the man he will replace next spring, Bob Dudley.

Looney is straight out of BP’s central casting department — a company lifer who ended up as head of exploration and production.

This is a well-known trajectory that was seen with past bosses such as (Lord) John Browne and Tony Hayward.

In fact, Dudley himself was slightly different as he was an American who arrived through the merger of BP with Amoco in 1998.

Bernard Looney will take over as chief executive at BP in February     Photo: BP

Looney’s terms set as he prepares to lead BP

But the Mississippi-raised Dudley — never seen without a tie — was a perfect choice in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy in the US Gulf of Mexico.

Looney’s challenges contain a wider existential threat to BP, and its rivals — how to deal with the decarbonisation needed to tackle climate change.

BP has not chosen an outsider as a new boss who might have undertaken a root-and-branch review of how to turn it from crude to energy producer.

Looney is an oilman through and through — although his track record suggests he is a highly successful one.

Certainly the sub-committee of the board set up by BP’s relatively new chairman Helge Lund to find a successor did look at outside candidates. In the end BP played safe and went for Looney who joined the company straight after graduating from University College, Dublin.

Looney pushed his way up the ranks with spells in the North Sea, Vietnam and the Gulf of Mexico. He was spotted early by Browne as a potential star of the future.

Looney is feted internally as a great communicator with a no-nonsense manner. He has championed diversity and mental health issues inside the workplace, but this is no softy. He has very high standards for himself and everyone around him.

He won the top job after bringing more than 20 new projects on stream on time and on budget as head of production. So, BP from February 5 will be in the hands of a very motivated and skilled company man, but one steeped in the carbon tradition.

His supporters insist he is as well aware as anyone that BP cannot just keep on doing the same things it has in the past. But you have to wonder whether the UK supermajor played safe at a time when it was an opportunity to be bold.

After all, Lund himself is an oilman — unlike his predecessor Carl-Henrik Svanberg who has been boss of Swedish electrical giant Ericsson.

Meanwhile, there must be high praise for Dudley. With smart moves, endless patience and steely nerves, the quiet American steered BP off the rocks despite over $65 billion worth of fines and liabilities related to the Macondo disaster.

He had been given a thorough testing for the most senior job when he was literally chased out of Russia by the Kremlin’s henchmen in the dark days of TNK-BP.

It may be that Looney has not been tested to that level of destruction, but he will be in the years ahead as the green anti-carbon juggernaut gathers speed.

Adapt or die, warned one Chatham House analyst about the future facing oil majors. So it cannot be business as usual for Looney or BP.

Bernard Looney – Chief Executive, Upstream

Executive team tenure:
Appointed 1 November 2010

On 4 October 2019 the Board announced that Bernard Looney will succeed Bob Dudley as group chief executive and join the BP Board on 5 February 2020

Professional interests:
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering

Fellow of the Energy Institute

Age:
49

Nationality:
Irish

Career

Bernard Looney has run BP’s Upstream business since April 2016 and has been a member of the company’s executive management team since November 2010.

As chief executive, Upstream, Bernard is responsible for all BP’s oil and gas exploration, development and production activities worldwide. The Upstream segment includes some 17,000 people operating across almost 30 countries and produces around 2.6 million barrels equivalent of oil and gas a day.

During his tenure, process and personal safety performance has improved by 35% and 20% respectively and production has grown by 20%, driven largely by 23 major project start-ups – delivered ahead of schedule and under budget.

He has led access into new countries, including Mauritania and Senegal, high-graded the portfolio with the acquisition of onshore US assets from BHP Billiton and the proposed sale of the Alaska business, and created innovative new business models such as Aker BP in Norway.

Bernard has encouraged BP to lead the industry on methane detection methods as well as driving sustainable emissions reductions of almost 3 million tonnes CO2 equivalent in the past two years.

Under his leadership, Bernard has made significant improvements in both gender and global diversity, with his top regional leadership team now being one-third women and one-third from outside the US/UK. He has also initiated a company-wide dialogue on mental health in hope of ‘ending the stigma’ associated with the issue.

In earlier Upstream executive roles, he was responsible for all BP-operated oil and gas production worldwide and for all BP’s drilling and major project activity. He led the creation of central drilling and projects functions following the Deepwater Horizon accident.

Bernard joined BP in 1991 as a drilling engineer and worked in operational roles in the North Sea, Vietnam and the Gulf of Mexico, including as drilling engineer on the discovery of the giant Thunder Horse field. After a period in BP Alaska, he became head of the group chief executive’s office, working directly for BP chief executives Lord Browne and then Tony Hayward.

An Irish citizen, Bernard grew up in County Kerry and in 1991 gained a degree in Electrical Engineering from University College Dublin. He later, in 2005, gained a MS in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Bernard is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the Energy Institute and is also a mentor in the FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Executive Programme.

Career history:

    • 2016-present: chief executive, Upstream
    • 2013-2016: chief operating officer, production
    • 2010-2013: executive vice president, developments & member of BP executive team
    • 2009-2010: managing director, BP North Sea
    • 2008-2009: vice president, Norway and North Sea infrastructure
    • 2006-2008: head of group chief executive office
    • 2005-2006: senior vice president, BP Alaska
    • 2004-2005: Stanford Graduate Business School
    • 2002-2004: executive assistant to Group vice president exploration & renewal
    • 1991-2002: production and drilling engineering roles in North Sea, Vietnam and deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Bernard Looney’s recent speeches
17 September 2019
Open for the future
In a speech at the SIS Schlumberger Global Forum, Monaco, Bernard Looney, chief executive, Upstream, outlines how successful energy companies of the future will be the ones that address societies concerns, find new ways to collaborate, and harness the benefits of digital and new technologies.
2 September 2019
Oil and gas: changing for the future
Bernard Looney, Upstream chief executive, at the Offshore Europe Gala Dinner in Aberdeen, 2 September 2019: Discusses the vital role of the North Sea oil and gas sector in helping to meet society’s need for cleaner, better energy. Looney talks about how the industry’s track record of innovation is the platform for a future that will see: continued modernization and more efficiency, further emissions reductions and a changing role of oil and gas in tomorrow’s energy system.
25 September 2018
New energy opportunities in Africa
Bernard Looney, chief executive, Upstream, Atlantic Council, New York, 25 September 2018: With demand for energy in Africa well ahead of the world average, and BP’s long history on the continent, Bernard Looney speaks about the in Africa’s prospects for growth and investment.

BP chief executive Bob Dudley to retire, to be succeeded by Bernard Looney
Release date: 4 October 2019

Bernard Looney

The Board of BP

announced today that, after a 40-year career with BP and over nine years as group chief executive, Bob Dudley, 64, has decided to step down as group chief executive and from the BP Board following delivery of the company’s 2019 full year results on 4 February 2020 and will retire on 31 March 2020.

The Board is also pleased to announce that Bernard Looney, 49, currently chief executive, Upstream, will succeed Dudley as group chief executive and join the BP Board on 5 February 2020. Looney will continue in his current role until this date.

Commenting on the announcement, BP Chairman Helge Lund said: “Bob has dedicated his whole career to the service of this industry. He was appointed chief executive at probably the most challenging time in BP’s history. During his tenure he has led the recovery from the Deepwater Horizon accident, rebuilt BP as a stronger, safer company and helped it re-earn its position as one of the leaders of the energy sector. This company – and indeed the whole industry – owes him a debt of gratitude.”

On Looney’s appointment, Lund added: “As the company charts its course through the energy transition this is a logical time for a change. Bernard has all the right qualities to lead us through this transformational era. He has deep experience in the energy sector, has risen through the ranks of BP, and has consistently delivered strong safety, operational and financial performance. He is an authentic, progressive leader, with a passion for purpose and people and a clear sense of what BP must do to thrive through the energy transition.”

Bob Dudley commented: “It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve this company and work in this industry for the past four decades. I have worked with so many committed people from all over the world – both inside and outside BP – and I am enormously proud of all the things we have achieved together to provide energy for the world. Bernard is a terrific choice to lead the company next. He knows BP and our industry as well as anyone but is creative and not bound by traditional ways of working. I have no doubt that he will thoughtfully lead BP through the transition to a low carbon future.“

Bernard Looney said: “It has been a great pleasure to work with Bob and it is an honour to succeed him as chief executive. I am humbled by the responsibility that is being entrusted to me by the Board and am truly excited about both the role and BP’s future. Our company has amazing people, tremendous assets, and a set of core values that guide our actions, but most of all we have a desire to be better. I look forward to tapping into that desire and building on the strong foundation that Bob has built as we meet society’s demand for cleaner, better energy.”

The Board is also pleased to announce that Lamar McKay, currently deputy group chief executive, has agreed to serve as chief transition officer. In this new role, McKay will support the Chairman and incoming group chief executive to ensure a full and orderly transfer of leadership. He will assume this new role immediately and step down as deputy group chief executive.

These decisions are the result of a comprehensive and deliberate search process, including consideration of a range of internal and external candidates. The process was led by Helge Lund, senior independent director Sir Ian Davis and remuneration committee chair Paula Rosput Reynolds, a working group of the Board’s nomination and governance committee.

A biography of Bernard Looney is attached to this release.
The company confirms there is no further information to be disclosed under the requirements of listing rule 9.6.13R in relation to Looney’s appointment.
Details of arrangements for Dudley’s retirement and of Looney’s remuneration are:

Bob Dudley’s retirement arrangements

Bob Dudley’s service contract provides for a 12 months’ notice period and notice commenced on 4 October 2019. He will step down from the board on 4 February 2020 and remain an employee of the company on his existing terms until 31 March 2020. Dudley has waived his entitlement to notice pay for the unserved part of his notice period.

Dudley will be eligible for an annual bonus for the 2019 financial year in the normal way. The amount of this bonus will be stated in the 2019 Directors’ Remuneration Report with 50% being deferred into shares in line with policy. He has waived any entitlement to an annual bonus in respect of any part of 2020 that he works.

Dudley’s share awards under BP’s Executive Directors’ Incentive Plan (EDIP), will be preserved in accordance with the good leaver provisions of the EDIP. Information relating to the vesting of shares will be updated in the 2019, 2020 and 2021 Directors’ Remuneration Reports.

Bernard Looney’s remuneration arrangements

Annual salary of £1.3 million.

Provisions relating to bonus opportunity, bonus deferral and performance shares are all in accordance with BP’s 2017 remuneration policy as approved by shareholders.

Looney will be entitled to a cash allowance in lieu of pension equal to 15 per cent of base salary. For the purposes of his deferred pension calculation, base salary will be capped at his current salary while accrued service has already been capped in 2011.

Further information

BP press office, London: +44 (0)20 7496 4076, bppress@bp.com

Renewable Energy

Selection of a BPTT/ Shell consortium of three companies as the preferred bidder for a utility scale renewable energy project has been reported.

but it was not announced in the 2019-2020 budget.

There were 11 bids for the project.

An official from one of the companies which bid for the project questioned the report.

The official recalled the project started off as an expression of interest last June and became a request for proposals (RFP) in December 2018. The RFP indicated that all bidders would be told by the Energy Ministry which of them had been successful.

BPTT and Shell submitted two proposals, but only one was accepted.

A highlight of the RFP was that there could be more than one highest-ranked applicant. The highest-ranked applicants are defined as those whose proposals are “substantially responsive, who have successfully met the requirements of Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3, and whose economic evaluation best meets the overall power sector objective of reliability and security of supply at least cost to the grid.”

Applicants selected for this status will therefore be those whose individual or particular combination of proposals offer the best improvement in tariff to the electricity consumers.

The official said his company’s proposal satisfied the International Renewable Energy Agency’s guidelines for the project.

The Energy Ministry and BPTT could not be reached for comment.

 

Predator Oil & Gas

09 Oct 2019
Photo – see caption

Predator Oil & Gas provided an update on the Pilot EOR Project in the Inniss-Trinity field using injected CO2.

Photo - see caption

Columbus Energy Resources and Predator recently finalised and formally submitted the updated CO2 Injection Pilot proposal to Heritage for approval, civil works are planned for completion in December 2019. Predator ordered a number of long lead items to begin the CO2 Injection Pilot by January 2020. Initial results from the pilot are expected in Q1 2020.

Separately Predator has entered into a Confidentiality Agreement with another operator of a mature producing oil field onshore Trinidad which the Company believes may be another suitable geological candidate for a Pilot CO2 EOR Project.

Paul Griffiths, Chief Executive of Predator, commented:

‘We are pleased to be working jointly and most effectively with Columbus to advance this exciting project. The Company’s near-term focus is to prioritise CO2 EOR production growth by adding new CO2 EOR opportunities using the experience we have gathered to date on the ground in Trinidad. Adding new projects is not capital intensive and is consistent with the current risk-adverse market sentiments. The signing of a Confidentiality Agreement specific to a new CO2 EOR opportunity is an important step forward.

Source: Predator Oil & Gas

Unipet service stations shutdown

Some Unipet ser­vice sta­tions including San­ta Cruz, Char­lieville, Freeport, Co­corite, Ch­agua­nas and Cou­va are with­out fu­el while the Na­tion­al Pe­tro­le­um Mar­ket­ing Com­pa­ny (NP) dis­pelled ‘rumours of a fu­el shut­down,

Unipet claims that pe­tro­le­um deal­ers across the mar­ket have been fac­ing sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges over the past few years, which is af­fect­ing their abil­i­ty to pur­chase gas to sup­ply their cus­tomers.

“In an ef­fort to re­duce our op­er­at­ing costs, Unipet and some mem­bers of the Pe­tro­le­um Deal­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (PDA) cut back their op­er­a­tions to­day with gas sta­tions sched­uled to re-open on Wednes­day 29th Oc­to­ber at 6:00 am. This is in an at­tempt to trim op­er­at­ing costs which have been se­vere­ly im­pinged by the Reg­u­la­tor not pro­vid­ing sus­tain­able mar­gins to the in­dus­try.”

Non-Unipet sta­tions are able to ap­proach the reg­u­la­tor to make up any short­fall in op­er­at­ing cost they may ex­pe­ri­ence but as in­de­pen­dent op­er­a­tors, there is no cov­er­age for our short­fall and we are left with no op­tion but to re­duce our op­er­a­tions. We sin­cere­ly apol­o­gize to our cus­tomers but are left with no oth­er op­tions. The fu­ture vi­a­bil­i­ty of the liq­uid pe­tro­le­um in­dus­try is in the hands of the reg­u­la­tor who has all the in­for­ma­tion with re­gard to the changes that are nec­es­sary to make the mod­el sus­tain­able.

Queues form­ed at the NP ser­vice sta­tions af­ter NP as­sured that there would be no shut­down of its ser­vice sta­tions. “NP wish­es to ad­vise the pub­lic that our op­er­a­tions are run­ning as nor­mal and that we re­main stead­fast in our com­mit­ment to en­sure that a con­tin­u­ous and re­li­able sup­ply of fu­el is de­liv­ered across the coun­try” .

: “…, as of .. 2019 Oc­to­ber 28, the plac­ing of or­ders for the pur­chase of all liq­uid fu­el prod­ucts con­tin­ued un­abat­ed, with de­liv­er­ies to ser­vice sta­tions tak­ing place to­day as sched­uled, and oth­ers be­ing sched­uled for to­mor­row, based on or­ders re­ceived from our deal­ers.” There was no need for con­sumers to pan­ic buy as this will on­ly serve to cause fu­el short­ages at the pump.

Trinidad & To­ba­go Pe­tro­le­um Deal­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion (PDA) said that it ful­ly sup­ports the call for mar­gins to be reg­u­lar­ized in the Liq­uid Fu­el Pe­tro­le­um Sec­tor.

“Most of our mem­bers op­er­ate gas sta­tions with Sup­ply Agree­ments with the Trinidad & To­ba­go Na­tion­al Pe­tro­le­um Mar­ket­ing Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed (NPMC). Un­der these agree­ments, NPMC Deal­ers are not per­mit­ted to close the sites. While we ful­ly un­der­stand and sup­port UNIPET’s at­tempts to have reg­u­lar­ized mar­gins, we ex­pect that all gas sta­tions will be un­der con­sid­er­able strain for the du­ra­tion of this ac­tion and ask the mo­tor­ing pub­lic to un­der­stand the con­straints un­der which we try to make fu­el avail­able to the pub­lic.

“Dai­ly, the Pe­tro­le­um Deal­ers are faced with the fi­nan­cial lim­i­ta­tions of op­er­at­ing with un­sus­tain­able mar­gins. Our ex­pens­es are greater than our in­come and while we are con­tin­u­ous­ly tak­ing mea­sures to re­duce ex­pen­di­ture, the mod­el it­self is un­sus­tain­able. The sit­u­a­tion is that we can no longer pay for fu­el on de­liv­ery, so we are forced to take fu­el on­ly when we have the funds to pay for it. It means that some­times we will not be able to sup­ply prod­uct to our cus­tomers. It al­so means that some sites will be forced to re­duce their op­er­at­ing hours and staff com­pli­ments. Most NPMC Deal­ers earn around $2.50 for every $100.00 fu­el sale by cash, and around $1.10 for every $100.00 sale by elec­tron­ic cards. From this, they are ex­pect­ed to pay all their op­er­at­ing ex­pens­es.”

The is­sue of un­sus­tain­able re­tail and whole­sale fu­el mar­gins is a lega­cy is­sue span­ning decades. “Four years ago, UNIPET, to­geth­er with the down­stream in­dus­try and in­de­pen­dent re­searchers com­mis­sioned a sci­en­tif­ic study and pro­vid­ed the Min­istry of En­er­gy and En­er­gy In­dus­tries, the Min­istry of Fi­nance and the Min­istry of Trade with the re­port which rec­om­mend­ed how a dif­fer­ent mod­el could be im­ple­ment­ed to en­sure sus­tain­abil­i­ty of the in­dus­try. The Trinidad & To­ba­go Pe­tro­le­um Deal­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion had made sim­i­lar re­search avail­able to the same par­ties over the past four (4) years. In 2017, the Min­is­ter of Fi­nance grant­ed a five cents in­crease in the mar­gins while si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly in­creas­ing the price of fu­el which led to an in­crease in the Busi­ness Levy and the Green Fund paid. The im­pact for UNIPET has been a se­vere im­pair­ment of their work­ing cap­i­tal and their abil­i­ty to make time­ly pay­ments for fu­el from Paria Trad­ing.”

“In ad­di­tion, lift­ings done on week­ends, af­ter busi­ness hours and pub­lic hol­i­days are as­so­ci­at­ed with ex­treme­ly high over­time cost charged by the ter­mi­nal fa­cil­i­ty. In­deed, NPMC is faced with sim­i­lar con­straints. NPMC sup­plies fu­el to 115 gas sta­tions and op­er­ate a gantry / barge fa­cil­i­ty of their own. They must pro­vide fu­el to To­ba­go, the Air­ports and to the Fer­ries, to­geth­er with their bunker­ing op­er­a­tions. In fact, to cope with their un­sus­tain­able mar­gins, NPMC col­lects up to Five Cents out of the Deal­ers mar­gins as rent, and even this is not enough for them to sus­tain their op­er­a­tions. It is a tes­ta­ment to the un­sus­tain­abil­i­ty of the cur­rent mar­gins.” The Chair­man of NPMC re­cent­ly ad­mit­ted that NPMC sup­plies fu­el to un­prof­itable and non­vi­able sites. It is in­struc­tive to note that NPMC does not ac­tu­al­ly op­er­ate any of their Sites, but con­tracts such op­er­a­tions to Pe­tro­le­um Deal­ers, who pro­vide the cap­i­tal and man­pow­er to do so.

PDA claims that un­like oth­er in­dus­tries the pe­tro­le­um in­dus­try is still rigid­ly con­trolled by the gov­ern­ment. “This means that we can­not in­crease mar­gins, nor can we go to a cheap­er source of sup­ply. De­spite con­tin­ued rep­re­sen­ta­tion to the rel­e­vant par­ties for a mar­gin in­crease, there has been no re­sponse. We take se­ri­ous­ly, our re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to the trav­el­ing pub­lic to pro­vide safe and re­li­able gas and diesel but we sim­ply can­not con­tin­ue un­der the cur­rent pric­ing and tax struc­ture. The sim­ple so­lu­tion to this prob­lem is for the Reg­u­la­tor to im­ple­ment ad­e­quate mar­gins as rec­om­mend­ed so that the in­dus­try can sur­vive.”

Unipet’s 21 ser­vice sta­tions across the coun­try re­mained closed as deal­ers sent a mes­sage to the Gov­ern­ment that their prof­its were too low for them to con­sid­er stay­ing in busi­ness.

Thou­sands of dri­vers overwhelmed work­ers at over 100 NP ser­vice sta­tions that re­mained open with more ve­hi­cles than they usu­al­ly catered for dai­ly. Fu­el ran out at some NP sta­tions and those who felt the brunt of the bur­den were com­muters, some of whom were forced to wait for well over an hour to get fu­el.

At the Unipet pumps mo­torist were greet­ed with signs that stat­ed “No Fu­el Sales” or “We do apol­o­gise to our val­ued cus­tomers for the in­con­ve­nience. This is as a re­sult of the dire fi­nan­cial re­al­i­ties of the sec­tor. Over the past 4 years, we have made the best ef­fort to avoid this con­se­quence, but it is now be­yond our con­trol.

One el­der­ly driver left Princes Town to get gas in Co­coyea as the sta­tions were closed. In San­ta Flo­ra, mo­torists at the Unipet sta­tion on­ly need­ed to cross the street to the NP sta­tion.

In San Fer­nan­do sup­ply tankers were top­ping up the gas sta­tions, en­sur­ing con­ti­nu­ity in sup­plies but mo­torists were wor­ried that a fur­ther shut­down will cause pan­ic and cre­ate queues at the pumps.

In Cen­tral Trinidad, mo­torists dri­ving everywhere to fill tanks, cre­at­ed con­ges­tion in sev­er­al ar­eas as Unipet sta­tions that were closed while NP re­tail­ers con­tin­ued op­er­a­tions.

Unipet said that the com­pa­ny will have a chal­lenge with its sup­ply and that con­sumers could ex­pect hic­cups in pur­chas­ing gas. Under the current regime since 2015, pe­tro­le­um deal­ers across the mar­ket faced sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges which af­fect­ed their abil­i­ty to pur­chase gas to sup­ply their cus­tomers.

“Since the levies were ad­just­ed four years ago, things have been very bur­den­some for the deal­ers. In­creased tax­es and un­sus­tain­able mar­gins al­so have been a con­cern for deal­ers. The in­dus­try has re­al­ly been af­fect­ed fi­nan­cial­ly. Deal­ers have a prob­lem with their abil­i­ty to pur­chase gas.

Pres­i­dent of the Pe­tro­le­um Deal­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (PDA) Robindranath Narayns­ingh is in­sist­ing that it is not hold­ing the coun­try ran­som un­til their mar­gins are in­creased.

Why would you con­sid­er a fi­nan­cial cri­sis to be hold­ing peo­ple ran­som?”

PDA’s in­ten­tions were to give a bet­ter ser­vice to the com­mu­ni­ty. He in­sist­ed the ac­tion did not con­sti­tute a strike.

“If it was a strike the whole place would have been shut down. Some sta­tions were closed, some were not giv­ing full ser­vice.

The prob­lem is that the gas sta­tion deal­ers mort­gaged their homes to raise cap­i­tal to pro­vide a ser­vice to their com­mu­ni­ties and the pub­lic at large. They’ve cut ex­pens­es, in­vest­ed mon­ey, they buy the gas and they sup­port this in­dus­try. The pe­tro­le­um deal­ers do this and as a re­sult, it be­comes un­sus­tain­able be­cause of the small mar­gins. The ex­pens­es are more than in­come. They’re run­ning at a loss. Be­sides that, it ties up your cash flow. You can run a busi­ness with­out a prof­it, but when cash-flow dries up, then you start to see trou­ble.”

Some deal­ers re­port­ed that closing their sta­tions saved mon­ey, as in the state closure of the indebted, loss-making Petrotrin refinery.

“It might be cheap­er to shut down a gas sta­tion for one day than run it for sev­en,” he said adding that mar­gins for the var­i­ous fu­els range be­tween 4-4.5 per cent; the low­est in the Caribbean.

Unipet said the in­dus­try has un­der­gone chal­lenges since the levies were ad­just­ed four years ago.

The in­dus­try was hav­ing se­ri­ous fi­nan­cial prob­lems. The com­pa­ny is­sued a state­ment say­ing that “the fu­ture vi­a­bil­i­ty of the liq­uid pe­tro­le­um in­dus­try is in the hands of the reg­u­la­tor who has all the in­for­ma­tion with re­gard to the changes that are nec­es­sary to the cur­rent mar­gin mod­el and tax struc­ture to make the in­dus­try sus­tain­able at no ex­tra cost to the con­sumer”.

Paria Fu­el Trad­ing Com­pa­ny as­sure that there was no short­age of fu­el.

The Com­pa­ny loaded Road Tank Wag­ons (RTWs) from both the Na­tion­al Pe­tro­le­um Mar­ket­ing Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed (NP) and Unipet at the Pointe-a-Pierre gantry this week­end (be­tween Sat­ur­day, Oc­to­ber 26 and Mon­day, Oc­to­ber 28, 2019). NP loaded 44 thou­sand bar­rels of fu­el (13,500 bar­rels at the gantry and 31,000 bar­rels at the Pointe- a-Pierre port) and Unipet loaded just over 10 thou­sand bar­rels at the gantry. Paria con­tin­ues to have healthy in­ven­to­ries of all cat­e­gories of liq­uid fu­el.”

Min­is­ters of gov­ern­ment have not re­spond­ed to the me­dia. Az­izah Baksh-Backredee, Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary in the Min­istry of En­er­gy, said, “We will send out a re­lease short­ly.”

This is not the first time deal­ers took ac­tion to per­suade gov­ern­ment to ad­just mar­gins. In 2016, deal­ers re­ject­ed cred­it and deb­it card pay­ments from cus­tomers, say­ing that it was a cost-cut­ting mea­sure.

Narayns­ingh said, “It all de­pends on how the Gov­ern­ment deals with this sit­u­a­tion. If they come to us to ne­go­ti­ate, we can reach a so­lu­tion.”

Closure of Unipet’s 25 gas stations signalled a readiness by private owners to flex some muscle against disadvantageous government policy. The impact on consumers was immediate as drivers rushed to fill up at NP stations in panic-buying. The impact of the one-day shutdown on the authorities remains to be seen.

The ball is now in the court of the Minister of Finance who must decide whether to dig in his heels or concede to Unipet’s demand for a bigger financial margin in the sale of gas, the most politically sensitive products on the market. Rumours of a shortage sends the motoring public rushing from homes and workplaces to join queues in hopes of filling up. Personal transport is too important to risk an empty gas tank.

It has been a while since access to gas was threatened , although Unipet states closure is not a protest but a result of a “lack of funds to purchase fuel”. Unipet and the Petroleum Dealers’ Association are firm in their position that after four years of making minimal headway in negotiations with the Government, the situation has reached a point where they believe something has got to give. The response by the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries to the shutdown placed the onus on the Ministry of Finance as it “continues to collaborate with the Ministry of Finance in reviewing the suitability of the operating margins in the liquid petroleum fuels sector.” This review follows a five-cent increase in margins in 2017 , the impact of which was “neutralised” by Government’s subsequent increase in the price of fuel at the pump which affected sales. The review is an ongoing discussion which gas station operators believe needs to be brought to a head.

If Unipet is accurate in its claim about the unsustainability of the current financial margin then the Government needs to act since the issue will not be resolved on its own. If, however, the Government believes Unipet’s claim is not valid, then the Minister of Finance must address the issue publicly and explain why he is not willing to budge from his position. The worse possible outcome would be for the matter to escalate to another stage of crisis where the PDA joins Unipet in taking common action. The faltering economy shows no signs of growth. Although the Finance Minister is relieved that the philosophical majority prevents riots over austerity measures, political grievances are festering since before closure of the refinery, as a perfect combination of aggressive activism and fumbling by governmental authorities, incapacitated the iconic oil industry and offers no respite from escalating crime, migrants and shortages of water and medicine.

Secrecy hinders investors

Thu Oct 10 2019

Geo­physi­cist Javed Raza­ck, di­rec­tor of con­tracts and pro­pos­als at Ramps Lo­gis­tics, told a post-bud­get sem­i­nar, host­ed by the Con­fed­er­a­tion of Re­gion­al Cham­bers at the Cou­va Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce that new multi­na­tion­al cor­po­ra­tions will pre­fer to in­vest in Guyana be­cause of lack of trans­paren­cy. and poor reg­u­la­to­ry con­trols by the Trinidad Min­istry of En­er­gy.

Ex­press­ing dis­ap­point­ment that the 2019/2020 Bud­get did not of­fer any in­cen­tives for oil and gas op­er­a­tors or op­por­tu­ni­ties linked to the Guyanese oil find, Raza­ck said T&T will lose po­ten­tial in­vestors be­cause of this mas­sive de­vel­op­ment.

“When Guyana be­gins to pro­duce oil from Jan­u­ary 2020, the Guyanese gov­ern­ment share of prof­it in Guayana will be US$300 mil­lion. The cur­rent rev­enue for the year is about US$1 bil­lion which is a 30 per cent in­crease in rev­enue. Ex­con Mo­bil made 14 dis­cov­er­ies since 2015. They have found 6 bil­lion bar­rels of re­cov­er­able oil so far and they have ex­plored about 20 per cent of the hy­dro­car­bons,” Raza­ck said., “Guyana is de­vel­op­ing in a huge way and when you look at Trinidad with poor in­cen­tives, lack of trans­paren­cy, lack of reg­u­la­tions, it is easy to see why a large multi­na­tion­al will go to Guyana or Suri­name to in­vest, rather than to in­vest in Trinidad.”

In­vestors were bur­dened by dif­fi­cul­ties in do­ing busi­ness in T&T be­cause of the bu­reau­cra­cy at State in­sti­tu­tions.

“We need to re­design the con­trac­tu­al frame­work, the fis­cal regime as well as im­prove the ease of do­ing busi­ness with the reg­u­la­to­ry in­sti­tu­tions of the coun­try like the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Au­thor­i­ty, (EMA), Min­istry of Fi­nance and Min­istry of En­er­gy.”

He hoped that the gov­ern­ment will seg­ment T&T’s ma­ture field de­vel­op­ment and of­fer in­cen­tives for small and medi­um op­er­a­tors

“You must look at the tech­ni­cal and eco­nom­ic as­pects to­geth­er and de­sign an eco­nom­ic frame­work that ac­tu­al­ly tar­gets each of the op­er­a­tors. The bud­get bare­ly has any­thing to in­cen­tivise the new drilling or ex­plo­rations. You have to break up the fields rather than look­ing at it as one en­er­gy sec­tor” .

One as­pect of reg­u­la­tion that must be up­grad­ed is the pub­li­ca­tion of all ac­tiv­i­ties by multi­na­tion­al oil and gas play­ers, as well as small and medi­um en­er­gy op­er­a­tors.

It is ex­treme­ly dif­fi­cult in T&T to find out what the big op­er­a­tors are do­ing. It is a big se­cret to find out who is do­ing what, who is do­ing what where and what are the de­vel­op­men­tal plans of these com­pa­nies. In Guyana, every day two or three sto­ries come out and op­er­a­tors are pub­lish­ing ex­act­ly what hap­pens. They keep the pub­lic in the loop. Com­pa­nies, there­fore, could see the op­por­tu­ni­ties com­ing up and they can po­si­tion them­selves to be a part of the sec­tor.”

Asked why op­er­a­tors were not pub­lish­ing their ac­tiv­i­ties and keep­ing their busi­ness a se­cret, Raza­ck said, “Op­er­a­tors have be­come ac­cus­tomed to that and they don’t see it as a ne­ces­si­ty. It stems from a lack of in­ter­est from the gov­ern­ment and the com­pa­nies. It is sim­ple for a Min­is­ter to say please pub­lish the in­for­ma­tion, so the coun­try will know what is go­ing on. The se­cre­cy im­pacts the down­stream sec­tor who de­pend on the gas com­ing from up­stream.

Down­stream com­pa­nies will be able to plan if they know de­tails about oil and gas finds.

Toco Port

Sat Oct 05 2019

22 islands of the archipelagic republic include the major islands ofTrinidad and Tobago; the Bocas islands – Chacachacare, Monos, Huevos, Gaspar Grande (Gasparee), Gasparillo (Little Gasparee or Centipede Island); the Five (six)Islands,-Caledonia , Craig , Lenagan , Nelson, Pelican; Rock ; San Diego Islands- Carrera , Cronstadt; Faralon Rock, Soldado Rock, Saut d’Eau, Little Tobago (Bird of Paradise ),St. Giles , Goat Island, Sisters’ Rock.

14 SEA PORTS are BRIGHTON, CEDROS, CHAGUARAMAS, CHARLOTTEVILLE, COCORITE, POINT GALEOTA, PORT-OF-SPAIN, POINT GOURDE, POINT FORTIN, POINT LISAS, POINTE-A-PIERRE, SAN FERNANDO, SCARBOROUGH, TEMBLADORA
11 sheltered west coast ports in the Gulf of Paria harbour require investment to serve the offshore indusrty in Guyana where commercial oil production will begin in December. Yet To­co Fer­ry Port is the gov­ern­ment’s pet project, with pri­or­i­ty for funds. Work on the bil­lion-dol­lar mega project is sched­uled to start in the third quar­ter of 2020 weeks be­fore the gen­er­al elec­tion. Re­quest for ap­provals was sub­mit­ted to the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Au­thor­i­ty (EMA) by the Na­tion­al In­fra­struc­ture De­vel­op­ment Com­pa­ny (NID­CO) .The project which will stim­u­late in­dus­tri­al, com­mer­cial, eco­tourism and res­i­den­tial ac­tiv­i­ty in the un­der­de­vel­oped north­east­ern re­gion with a pop­u­la­tion of over 75,000. Con­struc­tion of the port will be in phas­es over 30 months. The en­gi­neering es­ti­mate was $900 mil­lion. A new gov­ern­ment in 2020, may delay con­struc­tion . Min­is­ters turned the sod in for the con­struc­tion of a $196 mil­lion road up­grade from Va­len­cia to To­co Road ,the port’s di­rect route. Work on the 12.4 kilo­me­tre road­ will be com­plet­ed in 13 months.

The “Sea Bridge Team“con­duct­ed a fea­si­bil­i­ty study for a sea bridge be­tween Trinidad and To­ba­go. and chose To­co as an ide­al lo­ca­tion for a port, on a rocky shore with rough seas on the exposed Atlantic coast in proximity to the hurricane path,

The mul­ti-pur­pose fa­cil­i­ty comprises a two-storey fer­ry ter­mi­nal , fish­ing com­plex, two-storey port ad­min­is­tra­tion of­fice , cap­i­tainer­ie and Coast Guard base. Based on the project’s foot­print, NID­CO had ap­plied to the EMA for an En­vi­ron­men­tal Im­pact As­sess­ment (EIA) with a con­cep­tu­al de­sign.

NID­CO pro­cured in­ter­na­tion­al EIA con­sul­tant En­vi­ron­men­tal Re­sources Man­age­ment (ERM) to en­sure that every­thing is above board. The EIA re­port due .at the end of this year must be sub­mit­ted to the EMA which will re­spond in four months. Then NID­CO will ap­ply for a Cer­tifi­cate of En­vi­ron­men­tal Clear­ance (CEC). Tender will follow clear­ance and a con­tract will be award­ed.

To­co Fish­ing Fa­cil­i­ty is the on­ly busi­ness to be re­lo­cat­ed to make way for the port but there is no re­lo­ca­tion cost be­cause of the lo­cat­ion.

The port will ac­com­mo­da­te two fast fer­ries, 40 mari­nas, 50 fish­ing ves­sels and the Coast Guard boats. The Galleons Pas­sage, which ac­com­mo­dates 600 pas­sen­gers and 200 ve­hi­cles will ser­vice the seabridge from To­co to To­ba­go. The 45 min­ute-trip from To­co to Scar­bor­ough is faster than the three-hour sail­ing time from Port-of-Spain to To­ba­go. Adding the road trip to Toco of 2 hours from Port-of-Spain and 3 hours from San Fernando will extend the travel time.

The north­east­ern re­gion has the high­est pover­ty rate in the coun­try with hun­dreds unemployed, guid­ing the de­ci­sion to create in­fra­struc­tur­al de­vel­op­ment to gen­er­ate em­ploy­ment and eco­nom­ic growth. The port will be a growth cen­tre, to boost tourism, fish­ing and agri­cul­ture . Ccon­struc­tion will employ labour­ers, ma­sons, elec­tri­cians, plumbers, se­cu­ri­ty of­fi­cers, welders, su­per­vi­sors and en­gi­neers . Fol­low­ing com­ple­tion jobs will exist for se­cu­ri­ty of­fi­cers, jan­i­tors, ad­min­is­tra­tive staff, fish­ing net menders, ven­dors, main­te­nance work­ers, wait­ers, cooks, land­scap­ers, elec­tri­cians, plumbers and ship­wrights. The Coast Guard base will pro­tect bor­ders.

To­co Port will of­fer

•The ter­mi­nal build­ing with a pub­lic con­course, bag­gage stor­age, of­fices, re­tail kiosks, pub­lic lifts, bar gallery, VIP lounge and park­ing.

• The fish­eries com­plex with a po­lice post, re­tail and com­mer­cial spaces, car park for 60 ve­hi­cles, fish­ing net and boat re­pair yards, ice mak­er and fish and wa­ter stor­ages, gas sta­tion, fish mar­ket hall and a vil­lage in­cor­po­rat­ing a band­stand, toi­lets, fish stalls, gar­den and am­phithe­atre.

•The cap­i­tainer­ie will be equipped with a dingy dock, porte-cochere, of­fices, re­cep­tion ar­eas, cus­toms and se­cu­ri­ty of­fi­cers, car park, re­tail out­lets, boat­yard, din­ing ter­race/bal­cony, fish­ing out­lets and mari­nas mem­bers club lounge.

•The Coast Guard base will house are of­fices, brief­ing room, gal­ley, com­man­der’s of­fice, re­cep­tion se­cu­ri­ty and wait­ing rooms, mess hall, ar­moury, male and fe­male quar­ters.

•The port ad­min­is­tra­tion will con­sist of of­fices, cus­toms and ad­min­is­tra­tion, main­te­nance and plant rooms, se­cu­ri­ty, wait­ing and re­cep­tion ar­eas, staff rooms, stor­age and pi­lots’ fa­cil­i­ties.

2020 budget failed

Fri Oct 11 2019

Car­olyn Seep­er­sad-Bachan, po­lit­i­cal leader of the Con­gress of the Peo­ple says the bud­get failed to ad­dress ur­gent mea­sures need­ed to trans­form the coun­try’s econ­o­my.

Fis­cal mea­sures on­ly ap­pear to achieve short term po­lit­i­cal gains, as op­posed to sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment.

Gov­ern­ment’s macro­eco­nom­ic po­si­tion was out of sync with re­al­i­ty.

The Fi­nance Min­is­ter should have pred­i­cat­ed the bud­get on U-S 55 dol­lars per bar­rel and nat­ur­al gas at $2.50 cents per mmb­tu as the cur­rent prices could lead to a high­er fis­cal deficit than the es­ti­mat­ed $5 bil­lion for 2020.

She ac­cused the gov­ern­ment of not hav­ing any re­al in­ter­est of ad­dress­ing the agri­cul­ture sec­tor.

De­spite the an­nounce­ment of an in­crease in the min­i­mum wage and salary in­creas­es for CEPEP, URP and OJT work­ers, there were no re­al at­tempts to re-en­gi­neer so­cial pro­grammes to lift the im­pov­er­ished out of their con­di­tions..