Range Resources sells four drilling rigs

Range Resources, an international company with oil and gas projects and oilfield service businesses in Trinidad and Indonesia, has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Wilson Energy Services, a private company incorporated in Canada for the sale of four drilling rigs and related equipment for a total cash consideration of US$3.6 million.

Key terms of the SPA:

• Range Resources Drilling Services Limited (‘RRDSL’, a wholly owned subsidiary of Range, registered in Trinidad and Tobago, has entered into the SPA with the Buyer for the sale of four onshore drilling rigs number 16, 17, 18, and 19 and related equipment;
• The Buyer will pay Range the total cash consideration of US$3.6 million, payable in full on completion of the Transaction;
• Completion of the Transaction is subject to satisfaction (or waiver) of the following key conditions:
• Final inspection of the rigs and equipment to the satisfaction of the Buyer;
• Delivery of various documentation related to the rigs by the Seller to the Buyer, including documentation required for the transfer of ownership of the rigs by the Trinidad Transport Board and the Licensing Authority;
• The Buyer may purchase the rigs in its name or that of a nominee which will be an affiliate or subsidiary of the Buyer to be incorporated in Trinidad and Tobago prior to completion of the Transaction; and
• The agreed long stop date for the Transaction is 8 November 2019.
• The asset value of the four rigs as at 30 June 2019 is US$17,361,885 and the estimated loss before tax attributable to these rigs for the year ended 30 June 2019 is US$2,155,488.

If the Transaction completes, RRDSL’s residual rigs would comprise 7 workover and swabbing rigs and 1 drilling rig. RRDSL will continue to provide oilfield services to Range and other operators in Trinidad. There can be no guarantee that the Transaction will complete.

Range’s Chairman, Kerry Gu, commented:

‘Given challenges experienced by RRDSL at winning new service contracts, as well as our proposed sale of Trinidad upstream assets (RRTL sale) announced in September, we have been actively looking at options to further reduce costs of our operations, selectively streamline our assets and increase our liquidity. I am, therefore, pleased with signing of the agreement for the sale of the drilling rigs and look forward to working with our colleagues and partners on bringing these important transactions to completion.’

Source: Range Resources

CNG

If the Min­is­ter of En­er­gy and the Gov­ern­ment does not act im­me­di­ate­ly to ad­dress the un­prof­itabil­i­ty of the ser­vice they pro­vide, the Pe­tro­le­um Deal­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion is threat­en­ing to re­con­sid­er their in­vest­ment in com­pressed nat­ur­al gas (CNG) . PDA pres­i­dent Robindranath Narayns­ingh sug­gest­ed deal­ers were fac­ing in­creas­ing los­es due to the hard­ship in pro­vid­ing the fa­cil­i­ty to cus­tomers.

“We are so aghast, we have spo­ken to all the min­sters, we have spo­ken to all the peo­ple in the min­istry and what has hap­pened since is that the elec­tric­i­ty for the dis­pen­sa­tion of CNG con­tin­ues to es­ca­late and the mar­gins are not there to cov­er the pur­chase.”

His com­ments came as con­sumers faced an­oth­er day of dif­fi­cul­ty in obtaining a sup­ply of CNG. He ad­mit­ted a lev­el of in­con­ve­nience ex­pe­ri­enced by the mo­tor­ing pub­lic due to the un­avail­abil­i­ty of CNG at sta­tions in South Trinidad.

De­vel­op­ment of CNG as a ve­hic­u­lar fu­el dates back to a gov­ern­ment de­ci­sion in 2011. the Gov­ern­ment cur­rent­ly pro­vides $2 bil­lion in fund­ing for the CNG ini­tia­tive.

That fund­ing was de­signed to cater for the con­struc­tion of new sta­tions, pub­lic ed­u­ca­tion and mar­ket­ing, pro­vi­sion of mo­bile CNG sta­tions, ex­pert and tech­ni­cal sup­port and ra­dio fre­quen­cy iden­ti­fi­ca­tion sys­tem. There was al­so a fur­ther in­cen­tive to sup­ply CNG kits free of charge.

In a press re­lease , Narayns­ingh lament­ed that a miss­ing com­po­nent in the mod­el was the unique cost as­so­ci­at­ed with dis­pens­ing CNG to the pub­lic, a cost which he said is now en­tire­ly borne by CNG op­er­a­tors.

He claimed op­er­a­tors do not achieve enough vol­ume to pay for the price at­tached to the in­dus­tri­al elec­tric­i­ty need­ed and run the pumps and to pay the em­ploy­ee to dis­pense the ser­vice. Deal­ers can­not con­tin­ue to sat­is­fy the ex­pec­ta­tions of their cus­tomers “with the cur­rent mar­gins and those in the CNG busi­ness will have to re­con­sid­er their in­vest­ments.”

Deal­ers cur­rent­ly earn on av­er­age as low as $2.50 per $100 sale at the pumps, while they are ex­pect­ed to pay an es­ti­mat­ed $10,000 per month for the in­dus­tri­al gas sup­ply to use the pumps, em­ploy­ees’ salaries and cov­er all oth­er ex­pens­es. Cit­i­zens ex­pect that when they need fu­el a gas sta­tion will be open for busi­ness and stocked with the prod­uct they need.

The PDA al­so ac­knowl­edged that the mo­torists who use CNG had re­cent­ly been in­con­ve­nienced by the un­avail­abil­i­ty of CNG at sta­tions in South Trinidad.

Cus­tomers have been wait­ing in queues for CNG for over one hour at the Car­rousel Ser­vice Sta­tion and at the Rush­worth Street ser­vice sta­tion.

NGC/CNG is aware of the prob­lems. In re­sponse to ques­tions , NGC/CNG ac­knowl­edged that there had been “sup­ply chal­lenges for con­sumers in South Trinidad af­ter an ex­ten­sive main­te­nance pro­gramme at NPMC Carousel.”

To meet de­mand in the in­ter­im, NGC/CNG had op­er­a­tionalised a Mo­bile Re­fu­elling Unit (MRU) at the Rush­worth Street Ser­vice Sta­tion, as well as a back­up Mo­bile Re­fu­elling Unit (MRU) at the NPMC Car­rousel, which are now ful­ly func­tion­al.

NGC/CNGwas al­so work­ing “ex­pe­di­tious­ly to en­sure that sup­ply is brought back on­line in the short­est pos­si­ble time­frame.” In Sep­tem­ber 2019, CNG sales crossed a mile­stone one mil­lion litres, “and con­tin­ue to trend up­ward.” CNG is the most af­ford­able and on­ly lo­cal­ly pro­duced fu­el at $1.00 a litre gaso­line-equiv­a­lent (lge) when com­pared to diesel at $3.41/litre, Su­per $4.97/litre and Pre­mi­um $5.75/litre.

Pe­tro­le­um Deal­ers As­so­ci­a­ton said it was con­cerned that de­spite the bil­lions of dol­lars in in­vest­ments made in CNG by the Gov­ern­ment and the fur­ther in­cen­tives pro­vid­ed, a miss­ing com­po­nent in the mod­el “was the unique costs as­so­ci­at­ed with dis­pens­ing CNG to the mo­tor­ing pub­lic.” The PDA said this cost was borne en­tire­ly by CNG op­er­a­tors and called for the re­moval of elec­tric­i­ty charges as­so­ci­at­ed with dis­pens­ing the gas.

“CNG equip­ment re­quires in­dus­tri­al rate of elec­tric­i­ty and at­tracts a de­mand charge of ap­prox­i­mate­ly $10k per month. This charge is non-ex­is­tent for the sup­ply of liq­uid fu­el.”

This un­for­tu­nate and un­fair sit­u­a­tion wors­ens the cur­rent in­jury be­ing per­pe­trat­ed on sup­pli­ers of liq­uid fu­els who are op­er­at­ing un­der an un­eco­nom­ic and busi­ness mod­el.

The as­so­ci­a­tion had dis­cus­sions for the past four years with var­i­ous min­is­ters and gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials but the re­sponse has not been en­cour­ag­ing. The sit­u­a­tion in­ten­si­fied in 2017 when the Gov­ern­ment grant­ed a five-cent in­crease on the pe­tro­le­um deal­ers’ mar­gins while si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly in­creas­ing the price at the pumps and var­i­ous tax­es. Narayns­ingh said: “The five-cent mar­gin was tak­en back with the Busi­ness levy and Green Fund levy.

“It seems as though they want­ed to give you some­thing but they gave with one hand and they took back with the oth­er hand and the tax­es are just putting us in a worse po­si­tion.“

The im­pact of the Gov­ern­ment’s ac­tions has re­sult­ed in main­te­nance of the in­dus­try’s un­sus­tain­able price struc­ture. As a re­sult, “The in­dus­try is be­ing de­pressed at this time.”

The PDA added that it is dif­fi­cult for any in­dus­try to op­er­ate in a price-con­trolled sit­u­a­tion with un­sus­tain­able mar­gins and called on the En­er­gy Min­is­ter to in­ter­vene and re­move the spe­cif­ic elec­tric­i­ty charges as­so­ci­at­ed with dis­pens­ing CNG so that the CNG-us­ers can get their prod­uct in a man­ner to which they are en­ti­tled.

The PDA al­so wants the Gov­ern­ment to pro­vide the 20-cents mar­gin which he said they be­lieve is need­ed to make the in­dus­try vi­able. The Min­is­ter did not re­spond. to queries about re­moving the elec­tric­i­ty cost at­tached to dis­pens­ing CNG or low­er the as­so­ci­at­ed tax­es.

Stop wasting money on CNG

The T&T Au­to­mo­tive Deal­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (TTA­DA) wants Gov­ern­ment to stop wast­ing mon­ey on CNG. At a news con­fer­ence at the P&V Mar­ket­ing Com­pa­ny Head­quar­ters in Ch­agua­nas, TTA­DA Head Visham Bab­wah said it comes as no sur­prise to TTA­DA that the Pe­tro­le­um Deal­ers As­so­ci­a­tion threat­ened to stop the sale of CNG be­cause it is prov­ing to be un­prof­itable. For the last 40 years CNG has failed to at­tract more than 10,000 cus­tomers while hy­brid and elec­tric ve­hi­cles have sur­passed 50,000 units in the past three years.

Gov­ern­ment invested $2 Bil­lion in CNG in­fra­struc­ture and the coun­try has open­ly re­ject­ed it.

“I am call­ing on the au­thor­i­ties to give a re­fund to per­sons who have brought CNG kits and in­stead pump monies in­to de­vel­op­ing an elec­tric car net­work with charg­ing sta­tions across T&T.

In 20 years there will be a few man­u­fac­tur­ers mak­ing com­bus­tion en­gines.

Com­pa­nies like Vol­vo have in­di­cat­ed that they will be go­ing ful­ly elec­tric in 5 years time. What we need is an elec­tric car charg­ing net­work.”

Con­sumers who are ex­treme­ly wor­ried about the sta­tus of the avail­abil­i­ty of CNG in the near fu­ture are calling As­so­ci­a­tion mem­bers.

“We have been telling the gov­ern­ment that CNG is ob­so­lete tech­nol­o­gy that is still re­ceiv­ing sub­sidy from the state. CNG on­ly ben­e­fits a few who stand to col­lect $ mil­lions while the small man is con­stant­ly be­ing mis­led.”

The move to CNG may be a grave strategic mistake.

Piparo Mud Volcano

A mud volcano in the town of Piparo could erupt soon as large cracks and fissures have been spotted around the surface.

The 22 islands of Trinidad and Tobago lie outside the hurricane path but natural disasters follow heavy rainfall, widespread flooding, earthquakes and mud volcanoes which release gases, methane, nitrogen and carbon dioxide:

In central Trinidad, the Piparo mud volcano is showing heightened activity, with cracks in roads and structural damage. Residents hear rumbling and smell sulfur .

National disaster readiness plans are the responsibility of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM). Villagers sense that not enough has been done to prepare for the worst. Experts have yet to specify when the mud volcano could potentially erupt. On February 22, 1997, the eruption  displaced 31 families:

A disaster preparedness checklist is imperative in an explosion.

President of the Village Council, Ryan Ghanny wants an emergency response team dedicated to the community in case the mud volcano erupts again. Local volunteers would undergo training to “improve our village response, inform us of the knowledge that is needed and equip us with the tools in the event of a natural disaster taking place in our community”.

The Ministry of National Security stated that the ODPM, in conjunction with local government disaster management units, was in touch with a senior geologist who conducted tests at the site and drone surveys to produce 3D maps of the area.

Police and fire services are on alert and patrols have increased. The active site is off-limits to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

Ghanny was dissatisfied with the preparation measures.
In late September, a team of disaster officials appraised villagers of an evacuation plan in the event of an eruption and the ODPM’s disaster management unit held a training session with community members, but there were no resources, equipment, supplies or infrastructure in place to guarantee a systematic and safe evacuation response by agencies. Evacuation routes have not been confirmed.

As craters widen the Council met the regional health authority, protective services, the Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion, the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Au­thor­i­ty and the Red Cross on October 17 at the Pi­paro Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre. They outlined the resources they would provide in the event of an eruption

Although the “to­tal evac­u­a­tion plan for the long term” is being developed based on re­search by The University of the West Indies, there are plans for a simulation exercise. ODPM is con­fi­dent in the planned response. While state agencies play crucial roles in emergency management, responsibility also falls on the community.

The village plans to ring a bell in the mosque and honk vehicle horns to alert villagers should the volcano erupt. Community groups are responsible for alerting residents, who have been advised to develop a family evacuation that supports the community evacuation plan and form a Community Emergency Response Team.

The population of the Princes Town region is about 10,000 .

https://ttweathercenter.com/news/the-piparo-mud-volcano-2019

Several residents heard loud noises originating from the Mud Volcano

AAPG Young Professionals Trinidad & Tobago Chapter reported

The central vent is a bit quieter today than a few days ago. There appears to be less gas venting at the moment. Gas is still observed bubbling in and along most fractures radiating from the central vent.

The main NNW-SSE fracture cutting through the central vent has continued to slip, moving downwards by another 8cm since last Wednesday. Subsidence continues with the western area immediately at the vent, leaning and tilting downward into the vent. As such, the central vent is collapsing in on itself as anticipated.

Senior geoscientist at Touchstone Exploration, Xavier Moonan visited the Piparo Mud Volcano and had the following assessment. The volcano was still fairly active, regular bubbling and occasional louder blasts. The water in the cracks has had a chance to settle with the drier weather lately, allowing us to see the small gas vents. The cracks are littered with them.”We investigated gas bubbling at a residence along Panchoo Trace. This road runs west to east immediately north of the Piparo mud volcano. The bubbling gas appears to be flammable. The gas will be tested shortly and compared to the gas currently emitted from the central vent.”

Further fractures were observed in and immediately north of the cemetery. These fractures, like the ones at the Solomon residence to the west, all have dextral motion suggesting similar fault family.

Residents have been asked to remain vigilant in observing their surroundings and to report any observation of fractures, tilting, bubbling or any ground deformation out of the norm.

Other Updates:

Still no definite time frame on a potential eruption.
Activity on the increase, with fractures, widening and the overall area subsiding.
Increased rainfall increases the risk of eruption.
Residents continue to hear loud noises
More cracks are appearing, this time on property.
Residents are keeping watch and request lights to see potential activity during the night.

Photos by Xavier Moonan

Energy Island has a future in Guyana

Kevin Ramnarine, former Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Energy says that the country must position itself to be the logistics hub for Guyana’s booming oil sector.

Guyana Private Sector Commission  (PSC) head Gerry Gouveia says that politicians must unite to give Guyana the tools to provide diverse services or watch the opportunities snatched by other countries.

“We have enough brainpower between our political stakeholders…but if they continue to fight and believe .. only one party .. is endowed with the knowledge to help, they will hurt the people. The quicker they stop fighting, the better for all of us as a nation…… because when they are fighting, [other] people will take over.”

The future of Trinidad and Tobago’s economy depends on its ability to provide port and logistics services for Guyana’s booming oil industry, Ramnarine told a post-budget forum at the University of the West Indies, hosted by the Greater Tunapuna Chamber of Industry and Commerce, San Juan Business Chamber and Arima Business Chamber to discuss measures by in the 2020 national budget.

“What I didn’t see mentioned in this budget was, how we are going to strategically position our country to play a role in Guyana? All of a sudden you have a country which is poised to become the ‘Abu Dhabi of the Caribbean’. Located a day-and-a-half’s sailing from Guyana is Trinidad and Tobago, where we have natural deep-water harbours, port infrastructure and so on. Of course, they don’t have that because they have a problem with siltation because of their river systems etc, so we should be positioning this economy to be a port and logistics supply base for Guyana.”

“We were supposed to have a second phase of the Galeota Port…we need to expand the Galeota Port if we are to service Guyana. I think strategically positioning this country to service Guyana and Suriname is critical for diversification.”

Last month, oil major ExxonMobil announced its 14th major oil discovery and is on track to begin production soon. UK-headquartered Tullow Oil also made two discoveries.

The distance to Trinidad and Tobago from ExxonMobil’s offshore operations in the Stabroek Block is about four times the sailing distance to Georgetown. As more companies begin operations and with limited shore base operators to provide necessary services, they will have no choice but to look to companies from Trinidad and Tobago who have already established businesses in Guyana.

Tullow will shift operations from its Trinidad base to local shores and plans for its first shore base here (Guyana) by next year are in the pipeline.

Gouveia disagreed that Guyana could not get a deep-water harbour, or meet demands for port and logistics services. It could see itself in a place of reliance on other nations to provide services because of the lack of preparedness to meet the skills set and infrastructure required. He firmly believes that with sound, holistic development plans, Guyana might only require a fraction of external input.

“Guyana should in fact prepare itself to be, not a cliché of being the breadbasket of the Caribbean again, but a nation that would create employment for our Caribbean brothers and sisters. We must be prepared for that responsibility of being the economic breadbasket. Guyana must be prepared.”

Guyana’s policymakers and citizenry must take an inclusionary approach in meeting the demands for the oil and gas sector here and understand that it would not be able to meet all of the needs. The Caribbean region should be the first external place Guyana turns to when it does not have the capacity to meet demand in the sector.

This is preferable to being a dog in the manger which creates a strategic nightmare.

“We must not be inward looking. Don’t care how bad Trinidad and Tobago would have treated us or how the Bajans would have treated us, we must not get involved in a ‘do for do’. We must be bigger than that. We must look at ways to create jobs and so on.”

“In terms of that country benefitting from Guyana’s oil wealth and future, I don’t know why he thinks we can’t have a deep-water harbour because he is very wrong. We will get a deep-water harbour and we will get linking roads to Brazil…but … Guyana’s prosperity will be more than enough to accommodate the Caribbean.”

The investment focus must be on positioning to meet the demands that will arise when Guyana becomes an oil producer. Gouveia said the private sector also has a role to pay. “The private sector, our local entrepreneurs and businesses have to be equipped to take up that responsibility. If there are shortfalls, nothing is wrong with welcoming first our brothers and sisters from CARICOM but we must be a case where we know it is coming.”

Guyana and Trinidad inked a long-awaited Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Energy Sector Cooperation with both leaders assuring that there is no need to fear any “takeover” of the energy sector by either side. Aware of CSME rights Guyana invited and welcomed Trinidad companies to invest in the industry

Trinidad is planning a port in Toco to serve Tobago instead of the burgeoning industry on its doorstep with development of a multitude of oilfields requiring a range of shipping services. Both Caricom states should beware of looking a gift horse in the mouth

The industry will only flourish with learning, sharing and openness.

Ramps Logistics

Taking advantage of opportunities – director Javed Razack of Ramps Logistics told Couva Chamber at a post budget consultation.

WITH business buoyant in Guyana since its multiple oil discoveries, local energy sector service companies wasted no time in opening branches there. “Companies offering taxi services, for instance, are booming,” says geophysicist Javed Razack, director of contracts and proposals with Ramps Logistics Ltd which provides logistics services for companies in the energy sector. “A lot of Trinidadian service companies have been doing work in Guyana in the last couple years since they found oil.”

OWTU in the last chance saloon
The injunction to stop the sale of the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery and its assets, if successful, will prevent fenceline communities from benefiting from an initial injection of TT $2.5 billion to restart the refinery. OWTU leader Ancel Roget was commenting on an application filed by former UNC senator Wayne Sturge for the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Energy Affairs to be reconvened.

The union will take to the streets to expose the “plot” perpetrated by the Opposition party in its bid to prevent the refinery from reopening. If the reopening goes ahead, workers who have been unemployed since the closure of Petrotrin last November would be rehired to do rehabilitation work on the various plants which comprise the refinery.

“The restart of the refinery would involve turnaround works, refurbishment, a thorough inspection and repairs of all of the plants to make sure that when those plants start it can run for a considerable period of time with optimum reliability, so that we will guarantee fuel products for the country. To be able to do that, before those plants are operationalised and the refinery is restarted, we have to conduct extensive work to the tune of $2.5 billion TT, which is going to be circulating in the local economy.” Upgrades would require welders, masons, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, labourers, contractors and sub-contractors, scaffolders, mechanics, riggers, safety personnel, security and equipment suppliers.“All of that will be an injection into the economy to stimulate the economy.” Caterers and food vendors would also benefit and this will boost economic activity in Marabella, Gasparillo and San Fernando and by extension Point Fortin, La Brea and Cedros. The TT $2.5 billion (equivalent US $360 million) is distinct from the US $700 million bid the OWTU-owned Patriotic Energies and Technologies Co Ltd offered for the refinery and its port assets.“That is separate. That has to do with the upgrade, and so we would have already estimated, based on the state of the refinery when it was closed and our estimation over a period of time since its closure, we would have estimated that is what we have to pump into the system to get all of those upgrades and repairs.”

He disagreed with the suggestion that the refinery assets should not be sold until after the 2020 general election, saying it would not only take more money to restart at that point, but might not be able to restart at all. In response to the legal action, he said, “We will be on the streets again. We prefer to be somewhere else, but this time we are called out to be on the streets by the UNC, so we will be on the streets and we will be telling the truth to the people and we will be exposing the lies.

“But more than that, the consequence of their actions this time around will inflict more pain and suffering on the people.” He disputed remarks by UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, that the union had not done anything to prevent the closure of the refinery. Roget said it had mounted challenges both in the court and on the streets. His list of action included a prayer and candlelight vigil outside the PM’s office on August 26 and street meetings at Cedros and Marabella in September. The union also initiated a day of rest and reflection and demonstrated outside the PM’s office.

“We must ask the question, what drastic action the honourable leader of the Opposition wanted the OWTU to take, outside of all the lawful, legitimate and constitutionally guaranteed action that we could take, what other action? Tell us what we should have done. We were in the courts, we were on the streets.” Blighted by their behaviour, the proposal adds risk for operators and investors.

Kamla rejects OWTU demands at Divali

All dressed up in golden oriental finery for the Feast of Light, UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has scoffed at an ultimatum given to her by Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) leader Ancel Roget saying she is not obligated to respond to him.

“.. I am a servant of the people and I have a duty to answer to you, and I will continue to raise matters in the public domain, matters for the common good and in the public interest.”

Persad-Bisssessar said she had to respond to Roget’s ultimatum in which he had called on her to declare whether she supported statements by Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal during the budget debate.

Moonilal claimed to have found a paper trail showing foul play in the acquisition of the former Petrotrin refinery by Patriotic ETC.

Persad-Bissessar defiantly read a statement that neither she nor the UNC had closed down Petrotrin last year. “Ten thousand permanent, temporary and contracted Petrotrin workers lost their jobs due to the failures of Keith Rowley, on one side, and the Ancel Roget, David Abdulah tandem, on the other side. These men need to acknowledge that they presided over this mess, take responsibility and cease looking for a scapegoat to save face.”

“We are not against the OWTU and workers, and indeed wish them well, but we call for transparency, full disclosure and accountability on this refinery deal. The fact is that Patriotic Energies is a private company. It is not owned by the public and therefore this transaction is one whereby a multibillion-dollar state asset is being sold to a private company.

“Had this transaction been between an entity associated with the UNC and the government, or an entity deemed owned by the so-called one per cent and the government, both men, as well as the OWTU, would be protesting for transparency and accountability. Everyone must be held to the same standard!”

She wondered why Roget had not issued an ultimatum against the Prime Minister when the “PNM closed down the refinery and brought misery to over 10,000 workers and their families.”

“They gave no ultimatum when TSTT, Arcelor Mittal and UTT workers lost their jobs. The UNC and I will not be blackmailed by anyone to remain silent on issues of public interest in order to gain support for any election. We are about plans and policies to get our country working again.

“A new UNC government will work with stakeholders to swiftly resolve all outstanding issues regarding former Petrotrin workers. I intend to keep my word.”

The country is approaching two elections and the Divali season is one of the few times they could spend some “down time since many of us will be very busy in this election season.” The local government election takes place on December 2, and general elections are due next year. Divali brings a message of hope and the ability to overcome evil with good.

“Divali is first and foremost about light, about overcoming darkness, about hope overcoming despair, and good overcoming evil, only light can drive out darkness and so to only good can drive out evil.”She said there are leaders who are trying to stir up hatred and division as they feel this is the only way for them to retake political power.

“But we must never be divided, we are one people and we are one nation.”

Attending the celebrations were the Chinese Ambassador to TT Song Yumin and Indian High Commissioner Arun Kumar Sahu.

OWTU refinery bid unsure

Sat Oct 19 2019

Addressing supporters at a post budget meeting two days before the October 20 deadline for the OWTU to submit plans for the refinery, Prime Min­is­ter Row­ley said that the sus­pi­cions raised in Par­lia­ment by Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Mooni­lal against the Oil­fields Work­ers Trade Union (OW­TU) fi­nanciers to take over the re­fin­ery may top­ple the en­tire deal.

Ques­tions about who would ben­e­fit from the sale of the re­fin­ery and whether the Prime Min­is­ter was in­volved in some un­der­hand­ bid to sell off the re­fin­ery for pri­vate prof­it would hurt the OW­TU’s chance of se­cur­ing a loan.

“He has prej­u­diced the OW­TU’s abil­i­ty to deal with bankers and right now, I am not sure what the out­come is go­ing to be,”

He likened Mooni­lal’s state­ments to the neg­a­tive re­ports that jeop­ar­dised and even­tu­al­ly broke the San­dals deal for To­ba­go.

“Of course he has the gall to tell the Gov­ern­ment that we must leave the prob­lem of the re­fin­ery un­til af­ter the elec­tion.

“What is the ra­tio­nale be­hind leav­ing it? I know he has a big pock­et, but I don’t think he could thief that.”

As Prime Min­is­ter, he did not hold any grudges against the OW­TU.

“The best bid won and the OW­TU was the best bid and we are quite pre­pared to do what we have to do to get it done and get the re­fin­ery restart­ed. The same way they chase away the San­dals project… .. they are try­ing to un­der­mine the OW­TU.”

MP: refinery sale not transparent
Oropouche East MP Dr. Roodal Moonilal blamed Government’s lack of accountability and transparency for a dispute between the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) and the Opposition UNC.

Moonilal said the sale of the former Petrotrin refinery could proceed, as long as there is confidence in the bid process.“The government must conduct the matter in transparency, disclosure and confidence and therefore they can proceed before or after there is an election– no problem.  “The government itself is at fault in this matter.”

Moonilal was responding to statements of OWTU president Ancel Roget in response to claims by Moonilal. During the budget debate, Moonilal claimed to have found a paper trail showing foul play in plans for acquisition of the refinery by Patriotic ETC.

He claimed SunStone Equity of Suriname was a major player and said he had photographs of people “strongly resembling” Roget, MSJ leader David Abdulah and SunStone CEO and founder John Van Dyke signing documents. Roget said the picture was taken at his offices at the OWTU headquarters and Sunstone was no longer part of the union’s consortium, which emerged the preferred bidder for the refinery and its assets.

Roget accused Moonilal of using the cover of parliamentary privilege to make wild assertions and tell tall tales, knowing he would not be held accountable. Moonilal said the issue was “accountability and transparency’ and not “just not a matter of politics. The issue is not the room it was signed in, or office.

“The issue is that the government ought to take more meticulous care in handling such a transaction. After all we are dealing effectively with an asset worth over $5 billion, an asset that took US$11 billion investment between the (Patrick) Manning and (Kamla) Persad-Bissessar administrations between 2006 and 2013 for the upgrades of the refinery and its assets. Today it is being sold for $5 billion-plus and government is not exercising diligence, they are not being transparent in the process. This is not a matter to exert sound and fury, that is irrelevant. What is relevant here is that the government must conduct itself with transparency.”

The nation only became aware that the union’s relationship with SunStone had not only collapsed but that the union still owes Sunstone money since his statement in Parliament. “That is a serious matter, in that the government ought to have done proper diligence on companies involved in bidding.

The government ought to know that – not the OWTU, the government is at fault in that they are not conducting this matter with the level of rigorous diligence that is required for a multibillion transaction.” On Roget’s 48-hour ultimatum to the UNC leader to endorse Moonilal’s claims, Moonilal wondered why Roget had not issued a similar ultimatum to the Prime Minister when it became known that the government was about to close down Petrotrin last year.

He said with the energy company still having to fulfil the ten criteria for government’s selection committee, Roget should use the remaining time to indicate how many of the criteria the OWTU had satisfied.

Proman

The Swiss petrochemical producer with 14 plants in Point Lisas, announced that as of October 1st, 2019 its construction arm, PAGTT (Proman AG (Trinidad) Ltd), amalgamated with its operation division, IPSL (Industrial Plant Services Limited), creating a new entity trading as Proman.

Proman will operate alongside other Proman group companies in Trinidad: MHTL (Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited), CNC(Caribbean Nitrogen Company) and N2000, and DeNovo.

A notice from the company confirms a new leadership structure whereby Claus Cronberger will become overall Managing Director of Proman in Trinidad, Wilson Ramjattan Managing Director of Proman Operations, Andre Pfeffer Managing Director of Proman Engineering and Construction, and Nicole Callender-Benjamin Finance Director. Krishen Ramdeen, former Corporate Services Manager at IPSL, will become Corporate and Shared Services Director.

The Proman family of companies in Trinidad and Tobago represent this country’s largest methanol producer, a major producer of ammonia, and one of the longest operating tenants on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate.

Recently, Proman’s parent company in Switzerland also announced that Proman Shipping AG and Stena Bulk AB will begin a new Joint Venture partnership. The venture marks a new step for Proman Shipping, which will be the operator and 50-50 owner of two long term time-chartered ships, under the name ‘Proman Stena Bulk Limited’.

Prayers for Patriotic ETC

Days past the deadline of 20 October for submitting a busi­ness plan and a pro­ject­ed work plan for the re­fin­ery, a vice president of the National Trade Union Centre (NATUC) said he was very concerned and urged the Opposition and the country to pray that the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) succeeds in taking over the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, saying the country can only benefit from such an arrangement.

“Give the OWTU a chance to purchase and operationalise the refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre,” president general of the Contractors and General Workers Trade Union (CGWTU) said.

If OWTU succeeded, thousands of jobs would be created, not only for those to be employed or re-employed in the refinery but vendors, service station workers and taxi drivers who were feeling the pinch of the refinery shutdown when workers were purged.

“It will have a ripple effect in the fenceline communities. Having a stagnant economy is trouble.”

He was pained by the action taken to stop the sale and asked people to support rather than obstruct the sale.

“If OWTU is going to resurrect that refinery, people will get work and we need to help them achieve this goal. Even if you feel they will fail, pray for them to succeed.

“The CGWTU stands in solidarity with the OWTU. There will be challenges, but I know once started it would be viable.”

OWTU’s wholly-owned company, Patriotic Energies and Technologies Company Ltd, was the preferred bidder for the refinery now known as Guaracara Refining Co Ltd. Patriotic must meet deadlines to deliver on conditions set by government before it can claim ownership and restart the refinery.

The Opposition UNC raised red flags about the transparency of the process. A former UNC senator filed an injunction to stop the sale of the refinery in a bid to spur government to reconvene the Joint Select Committee on Energy, which had not met in 20 months.

The injunction was withdrawn when a meeting of the JSC was called.

The UNC distanced itself from the injunction but the OWTU is not convinced, saying it was an unprovoked attack by the party.