Touchstone strike at latest wildcat Cascadura-1ST1

16 Dec 2019

Touchstone Exploration unearths a significant crude oil discovery with the Cascadura-1ST1 well on the onshore Ortoire exploration block.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Cascadura-1ST1 cased hole wireline logs indicated significant prospective oil pay totaling 1,037 feet from 1,374 feet of gross sand.
• 80 net feet of oil pay was encountered in the regional Lower Cruse sands at measured depths between 1,030 and 2,134 feet.
• 180 net feet of oil pay was encountered in an Upper Herrera Gr7c thrust sheet at measured depths between 4,198 and 4,994 feet. These sands were not previously encountered in any offset wells in the area.
• 600 net feet of oil pay was encountered in a Middle Herrera Gr7c thrust sheet at measured depths between 5,516 and 6,162 feet. These sands were also not reported in any offset wells previously drilled in the area.
• 177 net feet of oil pay was encountered in a Lower Herrera Gr7a thrust sheet at measured depths between 6,162 and 6,350 feet, which were one of the Company’s targeted sands as identified in the offsetting well.
• The Canadian junior expects to complete and test the Cascadura-1ST1 well in the first quarter of 2020. Cascadura is the second prospect of four on the Ortoire block with initial test results at COHO-1 released by the Calgary-based Company on November 18, 2019.

Paul R. Baay, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented:

‘The well results far exceed any pre-drill expectations. This well is not only a significant discovery and milestone for Touchstone, but we believe it also establishes a new development stage for onshore drilling in Trinidad. In the new year, we expect to test each zone independently in order to better understand the economic potential of the prospective oil sands, and if the findings are positive, it will set up an expansive development drilling program in the area.’

Cascadura Results

Cascadura-1 exploration well (Touchstone 80% working interest operator, Heritage Petroleum Company 20% working interest) was spud on October 4, 2019 using Well Services Petroleum Rig #80. After encountering mechanical issues with the drilling rig, the well was sidetracked beneath surface casing and was drilled to a total measured depth of 6,350 feet (6,100 feet true vertical depth) on December 9, 2019.

The well was originally targeted to be drilled to 8,150 feet However, drilling encountered several distinct high-pressure hydrocarbon kicks that were controlled through the use of high-weight drilling fluid and pressure control. For safety reasons, the Company ceased drilling operations and cased the well to preserve the significant oil saturated sand reservoirs which had been encountered to total depth. As a result of the high pressures and mud weights we were unable to use a conventional open hole logging tool; Schlumberger was on site on December 12 and completed cased hole logging operations using their Pulsed Neutron Extreme tool on December 15, 2019. All information reported herein was based on cased hole logging data which correlated with drilling samples.

The Cascadura-1ST1 cased hole well logs and drilling samples indicated oil pay in the regional Lower Cruse Formation as well as three significant oil-bearing packages in the Herrera member of the Mid-Miocene aged Cipero formation. While drilling the surface and intermediate sections of the well, several oil bearing sands in the Lower Cruse formation were encountered. A total of 220 gross (80 net) feet of prospective pay was logged at depths between 1,030 and 2,134 feet. These sands correlate to sands observed in the offset BW-5 well but they were wet in the structurally lower offset. The Lower Cruse Formation was not considered to be a target in the Cascadura prospect and the Company will evaluate the potential of these secondary sands at a future date.

The primary target at Cascadura were the turbiditic Herrera sands and the Cascadura-1ST1 well encountered a total of 1,154 gross sand in the Herrara of which 957 net feet is interpreted to be oil bearing. These sand packages appear to occur in unique and separate fault sheets. 320 gross feet of Herrera Gr7c sands were encountered in the upper thrust sheet with 180 net feet bearing oil at depths between 4,198 and 4,994 feet. An additional 646 gross feet of Herrera Gr7c sands were identified in the middle thrust sheet, with 600 net feet of oil-bearing sands found at depths between 5,516 and 6,162 feet. The sands found in the upper and middle thrust sheets do not appear to correlate to any known historical well data in the area. In the lower thrust sheet, which was a primary target zone, logging and drill sample results indicated the presence of 188 gross feet of Herrera Gr7a sands with 177 net feet identified as oil-bearing. These sands were found at depths between 6,162 and 6,350 feet and correlated to a sand package which was present in the offsetting BW-5 well originally drilled in 1958. The Cascadura well is calculated to be 200 feet up-structure from the original BW-5 well.

In the first quarter of 2020, the Company expects to initiate a comprehensive completion and testing plan to evaluate the economic potential of the prospective oil sands in multiple intervals.

The Cascadura-1ST1 well is the second of four minimum commitment earning exploration wells under Touchstone’s Ortoire Exploration and Production Licence. The Company has 80% working interest but is responsible for 100% of the drilling, completion and testing costs associated with the initial four exploration wells. Heritage Petroleum Company Limited holds 20% working interest.

Coho-1

The company will provide further details on the Coho-1 testing and pressure data results after the data is analysed by the Company’s independent engineering firm.

Broker Update

GMP FirstEnergy is no longer the Company’s joint broker. Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited is currently the Company’s sole broker.

Source: Touchstone Exploration

Touchstone final results for Coho-1 well

19 Dec 2019

Touchstone Exploration announced the final production test results for the Coho-1 well on the Ortoire exploration block, onshore in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (Touchstone 80% working interest operator, Heritage Petroleum Company 20% working interest). The final test results have been reviewed by the Company’s independent reserves and resources evaluator, GLJ Petroleum Consultants (‘GLJ’), and the following information is intended to complement initial test results released by the Canadian player on November 18, 2019.

Highlights

• Flow and build-up test results suggest an Absolute Open Flow (‘AOF’) rate of 46.0 million cubic feet per day (‘MMCFD’) (approx. 7,671 barrels of oil equivalent per day (‘boe/d’)).
• Modelling supports initial production rates of 10 to 12 MMCFD per day (1,667 to 2,000 boe/d) gross, 8.0 to 9.6 MMCFD (1,333 to 1,600 boe/d) net.
• Gas analysis indicated pure, sweet, dry gas with 98.7% methane, no hydrogen sulfide and negligible associated liquids.
• No physical subsurface boundaries were observed during the test period
• Final 24-hour extended flow test rate was confirmed at 11.6 MMCFD (1,925 boe/d) at an average sandface drawdown of only 8.8%.

James Shipka, Chief Operating Officer, commented:

‘Final testing of the Coho-1 exploration well displayed natural gas rates that greatly exceeded the Company’s expectations and is expected to materially contribute to our near-term growth. With production testing and analysis completed and verified independently, the Company has a clear indication of the potential of Coho-1 and is moving forward to bring the well on stream in the first half of 2020.’

Coho-1 exploration well encountered material volumes of natural gas in two sand packages in the Herrera Gr7b formation. Production testing commenced on November 16, 2019, with flow tests spanning a total of 45.3 hours comprised of an initial clean-up flow period followed by an initial shut-in period and a four-step rate test, including a final extended flow test over a 24-hour period. Peak rates during flow testing were 19.8 MMCFD (3,300 boe/d) with an average rate of 11.6 MMCFD (1,925 boe/d) recorded during the final 24-hour extended flow test. A total of 17.2 million cubic feet of gas (2,867 barrels of oil equivalent) was produced during testing with 445 barrels of associated water including c. 37 barrels of load fluid. Natural gas rates observed during testing were significantly higher than the Company’s pre-test expectation of 8 MMCFD while water rates were significantly lower. Compositional analysis of the produced gas indicated 98.7% pure methane, with no hydrogen sulfide content, negligible associated measurable liquids and no sand or sediment.

Following flow testing, the well was shut in for an extended pressure build-up survey which concluded on December 6, 2019. During the build-up period, the Company observed bottom hole pressures returning to pre-test levels of approximately 3,830 psi. Flow and pressure build-up measurements were analyzed by GLJ, resulting in an estimated AOF rate of 46 MMCFD (7,671 boe/d). Analysis of the data supports an initial gross production rate of 10 to 12 MMCFD (net production rate of 8.0 to 9.6 MMCFD or 1,333 to 1,600 boe/d respectively). No physical boundaries were observed during the pressure build-up test period and no skin damage was visible at the sandface.

Source: Touchstone Exploration

Columbus update on Saffron well

Columbus Energy provided an update on the progress of the Saffron well in the South West Peninsula.
Drilling of the Saffron well is continuing as planned with encouraging results to date. The 8 1/2 inch pilot hole was successfully drilled to the planned depth and encountered hydrocarbon bearing zones within the tertiary target.

This provided the Company with the knowledge and confidence to widen to the 17 1/2 inch hole size and set 13 5/8 inch casing, to allow future testing of encountered oil zones on a successful completion of the well.
Whilst drilling the 12 1/4 inch section, further shows of oil- bearing intervals were encountered within the secondary target as well as high formation pressures. This required careful measures to ensure the wellbore is in a stable condition whilst continuing to drill. The Company is currently drilling ahead the main 8 1/2 inch hole section with which it is planned to reach our prognosed Lower Cruse primary target. On achievement of the TD (Total Depth) criteria the Company intends to log and perform production testing of the well, as appropriate.

Leo Koot, Executive Chairman of Columbus, commented:

‘The drilling of the Saffron well is progressing towards our total depth target and we have been encouraged by various oil and gas shows throughout the drilling campaign. I have been at the rig-site during the critical phases of the well campaign and continue to supervise day to day operations. The knowledge of the formations and rig systems gained so far from drilling the Saffron well is being applied to the final stages as we reach the primary target and will also prove valuable information for the future wells within the Southwest Peninsula including any development drilling. The Company looks forward to updating the market as appropriate.‘

According to the Company’s latest presentation – South West Peninsula Exploration – Appraisal – Development (24 September 2019) (includes geological X-section and prospect map) 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.

Source: Columbus Energy

Analysis by Kevin Ram­nar­ine

Touchstone and Columbus ignited interest among investors during twelve tumultuous months. At the end of a turbulent decade., the prolific Cruse-Herrera reservoirs, icons of the complex geology of Trinidad , are rejuvenated by patient exploration in the Petrotrin aftermath.

For­mer Min­is­ter of En­er­gy, con­grat­u­la­ted Touch­stone Ex­plo­ration Inc. on their suc­cess in Cas­cadu­ra-1ST1 well, their sec­ond ma­jor drilling suc­cess for 2019. The Touch­stone find is po­ten­tial­ly the most sig­nif­i­cant dis­cov­ery on land since the 2002 dis­cov­ery of the Cara­pal Ridge, now known as Shell Cen­tral Block.

Touch­stone’s suc­cess is proof that the en­er­gy min­istry should be award­ing more acreage for ex­plo­ration, as was the case un­der his tenure as min­is­ter.

“I wish to con­grat­u­late Touch­stone Ex­plo­ration Inc. on their dis­cov­ery in their Cas­cadu­ra-1ST1 Well, which was drilled in their Or­toire li­cense in south east­ern Trinidad. Touch­stone was for­mal­ly award­ed the li­cense for the Or­toire block Oc­to­ber 31st, 2014 fol­low­ing a suc­cess­ful com­pet­i­tive land bid round in 2013/2014 that saw the award of three blocks to three com­pa­nies. It was al­ways ex­pect­ed that these three land blocks had the po­ten­tial to re­sus­ci­tate land-based oil pro­duc­tion in T&T and stim­u­late eco­nom­ic ac­tiv­i­ty in the south east­ern part of the is­land.

The Cas­cadu­ra well is the sec­ond suc­cess­ful ex­plo­ration well drilled by Touch­stone in Or­toire in 2019. It fol­lows the Co­ho-1 well that was drilled some months ago and which en­coun­tered nat­ur­al gas. What is sig­nif­i­cant about the Cas­cadu­ra well is the fact that it has dis­cov­ered crude oil in 1,037 feet of to­tal net oil pay, which makes it a po­ten­tial­ly sig­nif­i­cant dis­cov­ery and po­ten­tial­ly the most sig­nif­i­cant dis­cov­ery on land since the 2002 dis­cov­ery of the Cara­pal Ridge (now Shell Cen­tral Block). Giv­en that Touch­stone has more ex­plo­ration wells planned and their grow­ing un­der­stand­ing of the ge­ol­o­gy there is the po­ten­tial for more dis­cov­er­ies in Or­toire in 2020.

The suc­cess of Touch­stone un­der­scores the need for the Min­istry of En­er­gy to be con­tin­u­ous­ly award­ing acreage for ex­plo­ration. Un­for­tu­nate­ly, the op­po­site has hap­pened in the last four years. For the pe­ri­od 2016 to 2018, the Min­istry of En­er­gy has award­ed ze­ro hectares of acreage for ex­plo­ration—a trend which will have most like­ly con­tin­ued in­to 2019.

From 2011 to 2015, the Min­istry of En­er­gy award­ed 1.418 mil­lion hectares of acreage for ex­plo­ration. This ag­gres­sive stance of the Min­istry of En­er­gy in award­ing acreage was great­ly en­cour­aged and sup­port­ed by the pro-in­vest­ment dis­po­si­tion of for­mer Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

I al­so take this op­por­tu­ni­ty to give cred­it to all the staff of the Min­istry of En­er­gy who worked tire­less­ly on var­i­ous bid rounds un­der my tenure. The coun­try is bet­ter off for their ef­forts.”

BP commissions unmanned platform study for Cypre

Dec 10th, 2019

Courtesy BP Offshore staff

LYSAKER, Norway – BP has contracted Aker Solutions to support development of the Cypre project offshore Trinidad and Tobago.

Aker Solutions will provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the first platform in a potential new series across BP’s Trinidad and Tobago portfolio.

The award follows completion by the contractor in London of early-phase studies. It expects to deliver the FEED results next summer: this could lead to a full EPC contract taking in both green- and brownfield scopes, and would be executed from Aker Solutions’ offices in London, Aberdeen and Mumbai offices.

Luis Araujo, Aker CEO, said: “We believe the Cypre project will set a new standard in ‘minimum facilities’ platform concepts, combining technology and improved processes to achieve fully unmanned operations.”

Unmanned facilities allow operators to reduce travel and carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions, as well as raising safety levels by removing the need for permanent personnel offshore.

BP’s partner in the project is Repsol.

12/10/2019

Maersk Drilling wins BP three-well contract offshore

12/17/2019

COPENHAGEN – Danish offshore contractor Maersk Drilling secured a three-well contract for the semi-submersible rig Maersk Discoverer with UK supermajor BP for development drilling at the Matapal project offshore Trinidad and Tobago. The contract has an estimated duration of 322 days and is expected to commence in July 2020. The value of the firm contract is approximately $78 million, including a mobilization fee. The contract contains an additional one-well option.

“It is obviously exciting for us to see Maersk Discoverer go to Trinidad for BP, for whom the rig has performed successful operations offshore Egypt for the last six years, including the shallowest water well ever drilled in dynamic positioning mode for both BP and Maersk Drilling which delivered significant cost savings to the customer. We are very pleased that BP is recognizing Maersk Discoverer’s qualities by re-signing the rig for this new campaign,” says COO Morten Kelstrup of Maersk Drilling.

The Maersk Discoverer is a DSS-21 column-stabilized dynamically positioned semi-submersible drilling rig, able to operate in water depths up to 10,000 ft. It is currently operating offshore Egypt.

BP sanctioned the Matapal gas project, together with Cassia Compression project, in December 2018.   The Matapal project will develop the gas resources BPTT discovered in 2017 with the Savannah exploration well. The project will be a three-well subsea tie-back to the existing Juniper platform.

With production capacity of 400 million standard cubic feet of gas a day, first gas from Matapal is expected in 2022.

Development Driller III secures contract offshore 

Rig contractor Transocean Ltd. received a one-year contract offshore .

Dec 13th, 2019

STEINHAUSEN, Switzerland – The Transocean Ltd.semisubmersible Development Driller III has received a one-year contract from an unnamed operator offshore Trinidad and Tobago.

The contract is expected to start in 2Q 2020 and will contribute approximately $91 million of contract backlog, excluding mobilization reimbursement.

According to Transocean’s most recent fleet status report, the Development Driller III is offshore Equatorial Guinea under a one-year contract with ExxonMobil. The contract is expected to end in February 2020.

12/13/2019

BHP selects Noble

Offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation won a contract for its jack-up rig Noble Regina Allen .

In its latest fleet status report, Noble said that the 2013-built jack-up Noble Regina Allen had won a contract by BHP, starting in September 2020 until February 2021. The dayrate for the contract is $120,000.

The rig’s current contract, with dayrate of $94,000 with ExxonMobil in Canada is set to expire. From mid-December 2019 until late January 2020, the rig will be in a shipyard.

From February until June 2020, the jack-up will work for Encana offshore Canada.

From July 2020 the rig is scheduled for a shipyard stay until late August 2020 for contract preparation and mobilization to Trinidad.

The 2011-built drillship Noble Bully II is warm stacked in Malaysia. Earlier in December, Noble completed a transaction with Shell relating to the two joint ventures in which Noble and Shell each held a fifty percent interest.

In the transaction, Shell bought out the remaining term of its drilling contract for the drillship Noble Bully II, and Noble acquired Shell’s interests in the Bully I and Bully II joint ventures.

Opposition Leader shares economic vision

The Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) is hop­ing to win the hearts and minds of the elec­torate in 2020, with a plan to gen­er­ate 50,000 jobs.

In her New Year’s Ad­dress to the Na­tion, UNC Po­lit­i­cal Leader, Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, points to her par­ty’s Na­tion­al Eco­nom­ic Trans­for­ma­tion Mas­ter­plan, which pro­pos­es 12 Key Strate­gic Pros­per­i­ty En­gines.

With an­oth­er chance in gov­ern­ment, her ad­min­is­tra­tion will fo­cus on these key de­vel­op­ment ar­eas, which she says will help the coun­try in its eco­nom­ic di­ver­si­fi­ca­tion thrust.

1.  Brechin Cas­tle Agro-Pro­cess­ing Com­plex
2.  St. Madeleine Man­u­fac­tur­ing Fa­cil­i­ty
3.  East-West Biotech­nol­o­gy Man­u­fac­tur­ing Cor­ri­dor
4.  Sevil­la Dig­i­tal In­no­va­tion Park
5.  Tamana ‘So­lartech’ Re­new­able En­er­gy Park
6.  West Port Of Spain ‘Trinidad Cre­ative Arts Street/Area’
7.  East Port Of Spain Steel­pan Man­u­fac­tur­ing Fa­cil­i­ty
8.  Pi­ar­co Air­craft Main­te­nance, Re­pair & Op­er­a­tions Hub
9.  Ce­dros Spe­cial Eco­nom­ic Zone
10.  Point Ga­le­o­ta En­er­gy Lo­gis­tics Hub
11.  Ply­mouth In­ter­na­tion­al Cruise Ship/Ma­ri­na Com­plex
12.  To­ba­go’s First Lo­cal­ly Brand­ed Ho­tel

Un­der the UNC’s vi­sion and lead­er­ship, these pro­posed projects will be spread across com­mu­ni­ties both in Trinidad and in To­ba­go.

They will mo­bi­lize and en­gage the pri­vate sec­tor, both lo­cal and in­ter­na­tion­al.

Not­ing that the coun­try has been un­der “a regime that has grown op­pres­sive, and which has shown its in­abil­i­ty to gov­ern”, the UNC leader went on to en­cour­age the elec­torate to choose her and her team, whom she says “have the vi­sion and plan”—as well as “the ca­pa­bil­i­ty, com­pe­tence, and ex­per­tise”—to get T&T work­ing again.

The coun­try faces crit­i­cal prob­lems which are hin­der­ing its path to growth and pros­per­i­ty, point­ing to the in­creased crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ty and spi­ralling mur­der rate.

She urged cit­i­zens to work to­geth­er to meet these chal­lenges head-on, bring­ing to the ta­ble their col­lec­tive “courage, re­silience, and in­no­v­a­tive spir­it, to re­alise a brighter, more pros­per­ous fu­ture for Trinidad and To­ba­go”.

63, 633 work­ers lost jobs this term. Even Christ­mas Day was bloody and 2019 ended with 538 murders.    Short-termism is one of the great afflictions of modern politics as governments rarely think strategically, only tactically – how to survive to the next election. Yet a bold administration can take a more strategic approach if it knows it will be in office for two parliaments. Privatisation and curbs on crime and union power which led to liquidations and total loss for stakeholders, require a landslide vistory to revive a zombie economy.     Taxpayers giving unto Caesar await Caesar to give back .

Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence for outstanding nominees in Arts & Letters, Public & Civic Contributions, Science & Technology, and Entrepreneurship.

Dr Shirin Haque is an astronomer, a senior lecturer, former deputy dean and former head of the Department of Physics, at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine. She is the first and only woman to head the department to date. In 2018 she also became the first woman to be awarded the prestigious CARICOM Science Award.

Dr Haque is an inspiring teacher and researcher in the cutting-edge field of astrobiology, at the UWI, which seeks to understand the complexities of life in the Universe. She has pioneered work on the Pitch Lake at La Brea and the mud volcanoes in Trinidad that is recognized internationally. She was featured on BBC’s Science in Action programme in 2008 for her work in Astrobiology at the Pitch Lake. She collaborates with astrobiologists in Finland,Germany and the USA. She started an observational astronomy programme at St Augustine, in collaboration with the University of Turku in Finland, and its success has brought more international attention to UWI with contribution of data to the monitoring of a monstrous binary black hole system and the first comet lander mission. The National Science Foundation in the USA, through the National Radio Astronomy Observatory appointed her as programme director for the development of a Caribbean hub in radio astronomy in 2018.

Her love of astronomy and passion for teaching have led to significant success in popularizing astronomy in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider region through her compelling research, public lectures, newspaper, magazine articles, short courses for the public, documentary videos and the first ever Caribbean Astronomy series on television on IeTV. She produces and is editor of the magazine “The Intellectual – art, science and architecture” distributed regionally and internationally.

Dr Haque is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Member of the International Astronomical Union and the American Astronomical Society. She is a founding member of the Caribbean Institute of Astronomy (CARINA). This year she was appointed National Outreach Coordinator for Trinidad with the Office of Astronomy Outreach with the International Astronomical Union (2019). She chairs the national committee coordinating the naming of an exoplanet and its host star that would be visible from the country, which would be named by the people of Trinidad and Tobago in an historic act as the first locally named celestial object.

As an educator, Dr Haque is a dynamic student-centred instructor and an outstanding role model, especially to young women, creating opportunities for them to do research visits at international institutes. She introduced several new courses including in Astrobiology. She also conducts astronomy and STEM workshops for teachers regionally and provides career guidance to secondary students. She was the co-chair of the International School for Young Astronomers (ISYA) held in Trinidad in 2009, with participants from 17 countries and co-organized the first ever Caribbean regional Astronomy conference in 2017.

Dr. Haque has a multidisciplinary approach to her work, having completed an MPhil degree in Psychology. She has spearheaded fundraising activities in the faculty for needy children in the community and for students in the faculty.

She has won a number of awards for her work including in 2002, the Guardian Life Teaching Award, the international distinguished teacher award from the Association of Atlantic Universities in 2004, the Rudranath Capildeo Award for Applied Science and Technology (Silver) in 2013 and in 2011 the Women in Science and Technology medal, both from NIHERST which has also named her as a science icon. She featured in “60 under 60” for UWI 60th anniversary publication highlighting 60 outstanding academics at the University of the West Indies and in “Eminent women scientists in Latin America and the Caribbean and was honoured again with an award for outstanding work as a woman scientist for UWI’s 70th anniversary.

Math Champions

Four pupils have done the coun­try proud by ex­celling in an in­ter­na­tion­al men­tal math­e­mat­ics com­pe­ti­tion in Cam­bo­dia, claim­ing first, sec­ond and third places in their re­spec­tive cat­e­gories.

Ivan Chris­t­ian Ma­haraj, 11, Bruce Boodoo, nine, Tee­van Sam­lal, 15 and Kristoff See­baran, eight, trav­elled 17,000 km to the South-East Asian na­tion to com­pete against more than 4,000 par­tic­i­pants from 80 coun­tries at the Uni­ver­sal Con­cept Men­tal Arith­metic Sys­tem (UC­MAS) 24th In­ter­na­tion­al Com­pe­ti­tion on De­cem­ber 8.

Af­ter com­pet­ing in the one-day event Ma­haraj cap­tured first place, Boodoo placed sec­ond, while Sam­lal and See­baran took third place in their re­spec­tive cat­e­gories. Flash­ing bril­liant smiles, the boys were ex­treme­ly proud of their achieve­ments.

Elat­ed over the chil­dren’s per­for­mance, na­tion­al fran­chisee for UC­MAS T&T, Ro­ma Ajod­ha-See­ber­an ex­plained that the lo­cal branch was formed six years ago, but be­gan com­pet­ing in the in­ter­na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tion about three years ago. This year, how­ev­er, is the first time that UC­MAS T&T has done so well.

The chil­dren were re­quired to first com­plete 200 ques­tions in eight min­utes and the sec­ond part in­volved lis­ten­ing to ques­tions and an­swer­ing them. They were not al­lowed to use an aba­cus or cal­cu­la­tor. The par­ents had to source fund­ing for the trip. Ajod­ha-See­baran said her at­tempts to get spon­sor­ship from the cor­po­rate com­mu­ni­ty and the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion failed.

UC­MAS T&T, how­ev­er, gives the winner who places first in the na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tion from which the best are se­lect­ed for the in­ter­na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tion, US$1,000 to help to­wards air­fare to get to the in­ter­na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tion. This year the group is hop­ing to host fundrais­ing events to as­sist trav­el­ling ex­pens­es.

Ajod­ha-See­baran’s son, Kristoff, was one of the win­ners. She en­cour­aged par­ents to get their chil­dren en­rolled in the pro­gramme and ex­plained that UC­MAS T&T has sev­en cen­tres through­out the coun­try and ac­cepts chil­dren be­tween the ages of three and a half to 14, in­clud­ing slow learn­ers or those with mi­nor learn­ing dis­abil­i­ties.

“All of our kids are do­ing ex­cep­tion­al in school be­cause the pro­gramme fo­cus­es on get­ting the kids to con­cen­trate, to be more ob­ser­vant, their mem­o­ry pow­er is height­ened, their imag­i­na­tion skills are great and their self-con­fi­dence,” she said.

Her vi­sion is to have the pro­gramme in­clud­ed in the na­tion­al school sys­tem.

Sam­lal, of Na­pari­ma Col­lege, said he was ner­vous as it was his first time com­pet­ing on an in­ter­na­tion­al stage.

“But when the pa­per was placed in front of me I said my prayers and felt calm. Two hun­dred ques­tions in eight min­utes is no easy task to com­pete but with prac­tice and hand­work I think I was able to do it well,” he said.

His dream is to be­come an aero­nau­ti­cal en­gi­neer as he has al­ways been fas­ci­nat­ed with aero­planes. See­ber­an, ­of Grant Memo­r­i­al Pres­by­ter­ian School, and Boodoo, of Bar­rack­pore Vedic Pri­ma­ry School said they were very hap­py at their ac­com­plish­ment which re­quired a lot of hard work.

See­ber­an boast­ed: “I do ques­tions a lot more faster than every­body else in school. That’s why I kind of al­ways fin­ish first.”

Ma­haraj said his ob­jec­tive to be­come an UC­MAS cham­pi­on and per­form the best in all his tasks.

ECLAC predicts low growth

Eco­nom­ic Com­mis­sion for Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Port-of-Spain at­trib­ut­es low eco­nom­ic growth in 2019 to low en­er­gy prices and the clo­sure of busi­ness­es.

ECLAC pro­ject­ed that the econ­o­my will grow by 0.4 per­cent in 2019 and 1.5 per­cent in 2020.

“… the glob­al en­vi­ron­ment is not very good for growth for economies .. that de­pends heav­i­ly on the hy­dro­car­bon sec­tor. Al­though there has been growth in the non-oil sec­tor it is not yet suf­fi­cient to bring the econ­o­my along. There have been many clo­sures of firms and com­pa­nies and may very well im­pact on un­cer­tain­ty.”

Im­proved eco­nom­ic per­for­mance in 2020 will follow en­er­gy prices expected to rise next year.

“Al­so, the non-oil sec­tor would al­so be­gin to take root and hope­ful­ly there will be no more clo­sures from the point of view of sig­nif­i­cant firms and en­ter­pris­es.”

T&T must con­tin­ue to look at new ways to di­ver­si­fy its econ­o­my.

“It con­tin­ues to be a very, very im­por­tant way of get­ting out of this chal­lenge.”

This is a dif­fi­cult time .. as pub­lic spend­ing is re­strained and trans­form­ing the econ­o­my will take a long time.

Gov­ern­ment must in­form the coun­try that eco­nom­ic trans­for­ma­tion is not an overnight process.

T&T can ben­e­fit from in­vest­ment in Guyana, with high eco­nom­ic growth.

This can be in terms of ab­sorb­ing labour. T&T has ac­quired tremen­dous ex­per­tise over time and. can see Guyana as an op­por­tu­ni­ty to jump start its own eco­nom­ic per­for­mance.

Ali­cia Bárce­na, Ex­ec­u­tive Sec­re­tary, ECLAC pre­sent­ed ECLAC’s lat­est re­gion­al eco­nom­ic re­port on the economies of Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean.

Ac­cord­ing to ECLAC’s Pre­lim­i­nary Overview fore­casts, in 2019 the coun­try with the great­est ex­pan­sion will be Do­mini­ca (9.0 per­cent), fol­lowed by An­tigua and Bar­bu­da (6.2 per­cent), the Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic (4.8 per­cent) and Guyana (4.5 per­cent).

Econ­o­mist, Dr. In­dera Sage­wan who spoke at the ECLAC pre­sen­ta­tion said that coun­tries like An­tigua and Bar­bu­da and Grena­da have high growth rates be­cause they are plac­ing em­pha­sis on the ser­vices sec­tor like tourism and fi­nan­cial ser­vices.

She said that T&T must learn from these coun­tries as the days of its oil and gas econ­o­my are num­bered.

Red tape exacerbated oilfield flood crisis

Flooding in the Penal / Debe Regional Corporation  left massive  losses.

Dr Sammy says unprecedented flooding in the Penal / Debe Regional Corporation has left thousands counting their losses.

Chair­man of the Pe­nal / Debe Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion, Dr Allen Sam­my seeks re­moval of red tape when ex­e­cut­ing emer­gency ser­vices dur­ing a na­tion­al cri­sis as he slammed state agen­cies for de­lay in as­sist­ing thou­sands af­fect­ed by re­cent flood­s in south Trinidad.

Un­prece­dent­ed flood­ing in the emblematic oilfields left taxpayers count­ing their loss­es.

Res­i­dents could have saved much more had the au­thor­i­ties not con­formed to rigid reg­u­la­tions dur­ing a time of need.

The ODPM, as in 2017, is bogged down with bu­reau­cra­cy to be ef­fec­tive in a cri­sis.

“One does not go—in the case of the ODPM—to the sergeant, the lieu­tenant and then give or­ders …where peo­ple are drown­ing.”

Re­van Teelucks­ingh of Se­wa In­ter­na­tion­al TT, agrees, but says their pro­to­cols need a ma­jor over­haul.

“It’s not a good pro­ce­dure but they get their or­ders from a hi­er­ar­chy; it’s not their fault. For me, the over­all re­sponse from the state was pa­thet­ic. This year, we had two feet more wa­ter than we’ve seen in the last three years.”

As he ad­mits that cit­i­zen con­tribut­e to the flood­ing with the im­prop­er dis­pos­al of waste in wa­ter cours­es , Sam­my main­tains that giv­en the coun­try’s his­to­ry of flood­ing, more must be done by the au­thor­i­ties to clean and main­tain those wa­ter­cours­es.

“There is a lot of pri­vate ma­chin­ery ly­ing idle be­cause of a down­turn in the econ­o­my and I did pro­pose a mod­el where you can mo­bi­lize these peo­ple and use their equip­ment to clean, and then agree on a pay­ment scheme af­ter­wards. Al­so, you need ..a se­ries of de­ten­tion ponds ..n. They don’t have to be the round ones we’re ac­cus­tomed to. They can be lin­ear or any kind of shape.”

“You need to re­plant the land­scape, … you need to al­so in­volve all the com­mu­ni­ties across the coun­try—500-plus in Trinidad and 69 in To­ba­go—in polic­ing their re­spec­tive en­vi­ron­ments.”

He is plead­ing with the pub­lic to lend sup­port to af­fect­ed res­i­dents who are in need of food, wa­ter, mat­tress­es and clean­ing sup­plies.

Firemen can rescue flood victims with their ladders and trucks.

3 dinghies donated by ECO and several from the USA were available to corporations.

It’s a national disgrace’ Fish­er­man and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) slammed the gov­ern­ment for squander­ing $89 mil­lion on Pres­i­dent’s House while al­lo­cat­ing a meagre sum of $2 mil­lion was for flood re­lief

“To read that the Ur­ban De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion of T&T has now spent $89 mil­lion to ren­o­vate an al­ready built and fre­quent­ly well main­tained Pres­i­dent’s house is sim­ply an in­sult to our na­tion­al in­tel­li­gence and in­tegri­ty and a slap in the face of all of our suf­fer­ing flood vic­tims. There is no dis­pute ….that we need to boost our na­tion­al pride, but with so much suf­fer­ing and pover­ty shouldn’t leg­isla­tive lead­ers be more ac­tive­ly en­gaged in en­sur­ing val­ue for mon­ey…? It is deeply dis­turb­ing that a mere pit­tance of two mil­lion dol­lars has been al­lo­cat­ed for flood re­lief ef­forts by this Prime Min­is­ter while cham­pagne toasts are cel­e­brat­ed on $89 mil­lion shame­less­ly spent on re­pairs to the roof of an al­ready built, well main­tained and lav­ish­ly fur­nished Pres­i­dent’s Res­i­dence. “

Based one costs by pro­fes­sion­al quan­ti­ty sur­vey­ors, three brand new ‘mon­u­ments to boost na­tion­al pride’ or Pres­i­den­tial res­i­dences could have been built and fur­nished for the same $89 mil­lion. “Does PM Row­ley care to un­der­stand the dis­as­ter that faces thou­sands of flood vic­tims an­nu­al­ly as a re­sult of the Gov­ern­ment’s poor ur­ban plan­ning, mis­man­age­ment, ne­glect and/or in­abil­i­ty to main­tain in­fra­struc­ture? Does PM Row­ley not un­der­stand that he was elect­ed with the core re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to en­sure that all cit­i­zens are ad­e­quate­ly pro­tect­ed?”

The Prime Min­is­ter has a du­ty of care, yet he was fail­ing to pro­tect and safe-guard cit­i­zens while on the oth­er hand, he is cel­e­brat­ing what ap­pears to be a typ­i­cal­ly and ex­ces­sive­ly in­flat­ed $89 mil­lion ren­o­va­tion cost.” T&T will con­tin­ue to suf­fer na­tion­al shame and dis­grace un­til there were lead­ers who can lead our na­tion with a sense of so­cial jus­tice and pub­lic con­science.

“We are doomed un­til we can en­sure that the boom to bust squan­der­ma­nia is halt­ed as a mat­ter of na­tion­al emer­gency or else we will right­ful­ly con­tin­ue to be brand­ed as a failed state Ba­nana Re­pub­lic, pol­lut­ed with an in­sen­si­tive lead­er­ship who are paving the way for the scourge of gross mis­man­age­ment of the pub­lic purse.”

Compensation offer upsets MP

As floods again inundat­ed his con­stituen­cy, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Mooni­lal de­scribed as “con­temp­tu­ous” the pro­posed $1 mil­lion grant to the Pe­nal/Debe re­gion to as­sist vic­tims.

He ad­dressed the swear­ing-in cer­e­mo­ny of the new al­der­men and re­turn­ing chair­man Dr Allen Sam­my and re­turn­ing deputy chair­man Diptee Ram­nath, for­mer PNM coun­cil­lor un­der the Man­ning regime who lat­er crossed the floor.

Mooni­lal urged the Gov­ern­ment to treat Pe­nal/Debe as they did res­i­dents.Green­vale which received mil­lions of dol­lars to re­place fur­ni­ture and ap­pli­ances in the af­ter­math of flood­ing last No­vem­ber .

“.. one mil­lion .. could not help one elec­toral dis­trict, with eight dev­as­tat­ed. It was an act of mal­ice and dis­crim­i­na­tion and Gov­ern­ment should re­place possessions and as­sist with re­build­ing and re­fur­bish­ing hun­dreds of homes.”

Flood­ing in Pe­nal/Debe was not a pri­or­i­ty for ur­gent at­ten­tion by the PNM gov­ern­ment.

He blast­ed the Min­is­ter of Works for ne­glect in un­der­tak­ing drainage works in the re­gion.

Flooding woes continue

While hun­dreds of peo­ple were trapped in their homes and Clarke Road, Quinam Road and other roads were impassable. ,

thir­ty-five fam­i­lies were res­cued from flood­wa­ters in Pe­nal and oth­er fam­i­lies escaped dan­ger to stay with rel­a­tives.

Coun­cil­lor Shan­ti Boodram, al­so a flood vic­tim said that many peo­ple lost every­thing in their homes, as well as their crops, their live­stock and their liveli­hoods to the rag­ing flood wa­ters.

The damage from flood waters has been extensive
Damage is extensive

On­ly high ve­hi­cles could ac­cess cer­tain roads in Pe­nal and pro­duc­tiv­i­ty has been low as busi­ness­es and schools were af­fected.­

Chil­dren are at home and peo­ple can’t work. “It’s ter­ri­ble right now.”

As Christ­mas approaches, res­i­dents feel­ hope­less, again losing every­thing to floods.

“Peo­ple are cry­ing and don’t know what to do as they have lost every­thing.”

Fol­low­ing two days of heavy rain­fall, gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials and dis­as­ter man­age­ment units are work­ing on the ground to re­spond to the cri­sis, bring­ing re­lief to res­i­dents, as­sessing the ex­tent of the dam­age.

The Met Ser­vices says the Or­ange Lev­el River­ine Flood Warn­ing re­mains in ef­fect . More heavy show­ers and pos­si­ble thun­der­storms are ex­pect­ed and more street and flash flood­ing is pos­si­ble. Spring tides are in ef­fect, which can ex­ac­er­bate con­di­tions at high tide.

ODPM aimed to help as many res­i­dents as pos­si­ble.

“Our main fo­cus is on the preser­va­tion of life, which is why we are putting so much em­pha­sis on get­ting equip­ment and re­sources in­to those ar­eas. As soon as the wa­ter abates, an army of per­sons will move in to give sup­port, whether it is in Mafekign or Pe­nal-Debe, or any of the ar­eas bor­der­ing the Ca­roni Riv­er. We are pre­pared to re­spond as soon as we can get in, and as­sess and bring re­lief to all the many of our cit­i­zens who are suf­fer­ing be­cause of this cur­rent weath­er phe­nom­e­non.”

Over 2 weeks’ rain in hours

Geo­sci­en­tist Kalain Ho­sein said in­clement weath­er was caused by a sur­face to low-lev­el trough, an area of low­er than usu­al pres­sure at the sur­face to low lev­els of the at­mos­phere, which brings un­set­tled weath­er.

“These fea­tures are our main rain­mak­ers dur­ing the wet sea­son af­ter the hur­ri­cane sea­son has end­ed. While this in­clement weath­er was well fore­cast, with heav­ier ac­tiv­i­ty re­main­ing across south­ern and east­ern ar­eas, the amount of rain­fall was un­ex­pect­ed,” Ho­sein said.

“Across Trinidad, we re­ceived be­tween 25 and 50 mil­lime­tres of rain­fall (1 to 2 inch­es) and iso­lat­ed to­tals over 87 mil­lime­tres (3.75 inch­es)… Trinidad, on av­er­age, records 7.5 inch­es of rain­fall for the en­tire month of No­vem­ber. We re­ceived over half a month’s worth of rain­fall in hours. This im­pres­sive amount of rain­fall led to the se­vere street, flash, and river­ine flood­ing across south­ern Trinidad.”

Heavy rains and floods caused the clo­sure of the Point Fortin and Siparia Mag­is­trates Courts.

22 southern areas under water as floods wreak havoc

The floods cov­ered most of:-

1. Clarke Road,
2. Pe­nal Rock Road,
3. Der­rick Road,
4. Lal­be­har­ry Trace,
5. Pa­pourie Road,
6. Low­er Bar­rack­pore,
7. Has­sanali Trace,
8. Kat­wa­roo Trace,
9. Dig­i­ty Trace,
10. Batchya,
11. Lal­too Trace,
12. Mo­hess Road,
13. Ramd­har­ry Trace,
14. Ali Av­enue,
15. Com­mu­ni­ty Street and
16. SS Erin Road,      Debe

Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ter Kaz­im Ho­sein said the Dis­as­ter Man­age­ment Units of the Cor­po­ra­tion were ac­ti­vat­ed and over 600 Com­mu­ni­ty Emer­gency Re­sponse Team (CERT) vol­un­teers, trained this year, were on stand­by to as­sist in their com­mu­ni­ties.

Live­stock farmer Nathaniel Mun­gal was again count­ing his loss­es. All the pro­duce in his mar­ket stall had washed away, along with four pigs, kids, cattle, ducks and chick­ens. Every time it floods, he gets cov­er­age in the me­dia but not a sin­gle cent from the Min­istry to get back on his feet. “Its re­al loss­es I suf­fer over the years. They need to do some­thing about the drainage.”

At Boodoo’s chick­en de­pot, caged chick­ens drowned. “Right now we have four feet of wa­ter in here. We can­not sell and we have to se­cure the chick­ens. We can­not say for sure yet how many drowned.”

At Quar­ry Road, Siparia the Tu­na­co Riv­er burst its banks, caus­ing res­i­dents of An­toine Trace to be ma­rooned. Lyn­don Ra­jku­mar and his moth­er Grace said they could on­ly watch in hor­ror as their ap­pli­ances float­ed away.

“Right now we stand­ing in waist height wa­ter. The deep freeze float­ing.”

Pe­nal/Debe Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion said the floods were caused by eight hours of con­tin­u­ous rain­fall.

Al­though the rivers un­der the PDRC have been cleaned, the sev­en wa­ter­cours­es which fall un­der the Min­istry of Works have been dredged par­tial­ly.

“What we need is for these rivers to be cleaned in their en­tire­ty.” Sand­bags had been dis­trib­uted ear­li­er in the year and res­i­dents were able to pre­pare for the floods in some ar­eas.

Princes Town Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion chair Gowrie Roop­nar­ine fear­ed that if the flood­wa­ters con­tin­ued to rise it will be a mi­ni-dis­as­ter. Hard­bar­gain, Williamsville and the M1 Ring Road were flood­ed.

“We have food­stuff, mat­tress­es, and tar­pau­lins. If this flood con­tin­ues in Bar­rack­pore a few hun­dred peo­ple will be af­fect­ed.”

Ad-hoc de­vel­op­ment was a con­trib­u­to­ry fac­tor for the floods. In Bar­rack­pore a few de­vel­op­ers who had au­tho­riza­tion for de­vel­op­ment from Town and Coun­try Plan­ning even though it was not ap­proved by the Cor­po­ra­tion.

Dis­as­ter Man­age­ment Units dis­trib­ut­ed sand­bags and pro­vid­ed first re­sponse as­sis­tance, re­spond­ing to re­ports of blown-off roofs and as­sist­ing to clear fall­en trees to en­sure that all routes re­main ac­ces­si­ble to the pub­lic.

Shel­ter man­agers have been alert­ed and shel­ters will be ac­ti­vat­ed as the need aris­es.

.

Flood Alleviation

Hours of rain­fall resulted in rising floods in Pe­nal .

Scotts Road, Rock Road and Clarke Road al­ready lay under three feet of wa­ter.

Low tide ex­pect­ed in two hours will do lit­tle to al­le­vi­ate the ris­ing floods.

PDRC teams al­ready are on the ground, and a Dis­as­ter Man­age­ment Plan has been ac­ti­vat­ed.

Grants to farmers are key to flood alleviation. Taxes spent on planting fruit trees and bamboo can reap returns in boosting shade to cool air, reducing run-off, stabilising rivers and conserving wetlands where water buffalo and ducks can thrive to produce protein, cheese, milk and leather.

$2 million for flood relief

Two mil­lion dol­lars have been al­lo­cat­ed to as­sist cor­po­ra­tions af­fect­ed by re­cent flood­ing.
Pe­nal / Debe Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion will re­ceive $1 mil­lion, while Ma­yaro and the Bar­rack­pore com­mu­ni­ty will each re­ceive half a mil­lion dol­lars.

While as­sess­ments on the ex­tent of dam­age caused by the flood­ing were on­go­ing, Gov­ern­ment rec­og­nized the need to make funds avail­able to pro­vide hu­man­i­tar­i­an aid.

The funds are to be used main­ly for the pur­chase of food, clean­ing sup­plies, and oth­er ba­sic items.

The full text of the Prime Min­is­ter’s State­ment, fol­lows…

HU­MAN­I­TAR­I­AN FLOOD RE­LIEF   

Even as we are still await­ing the as­sess­ment of the dam­age caused by ex­ten­sive flood­ing and the wa­ters have not yet re­ced­ed com­plete­ly the Gov­ern­ment rec­og­nizes the need for ad­di­tion­al re­sources to be made avail­able to the af­fect­ed Cor­po­ra­tions to en­able them to pro­vide ad­di­tion­al im­me­di­ate hu­man­i­tar­i­an as­sis­tance.

In fur­ther­ance of this ob­jec­tive for the com­ing few days Cab­i­net has au­tho­rized the Min­is­ter of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment, Sen­a­tor the Hon. Kaz­im Ho­sein to make $2 mil­lion avail­able for this pur­pose.

From this im­me­di­ate hu­man­i­tar­i­an as­sis­tance Pe­nal/ Debe gets $1 mil­lion whilst Ma­yaro gets .5 mil­lion dol­lars and an­oth­er .5 mil­lion dol­lars goes to the Bar­rack­pore com­mu­ni­ty. This mon­ey is main­ly for food, clean­ing ma­te­ri­als and oth­er ba­sic needs in the short term.

WASA blames Water woes

Wa­ter and Sew­er­age Au­thor­i­ty (WASA) ad­vis­ed cus­tomers served by the Val­sayn A Boost­er Sta­tion , who are ex­pe­ri­enc­ing dis­rup­tion in their pipe borne wa­ter sup­ply that the in­clement weath­er over the past 12 hours has caused a fur­ther de­lay in the com­ple­tion of re­pairs to the leak­ing 30-inch di­am­e­ter trans­mis­sion main, along the East­ern Main Road, St. Joseph, in the vicin­i­ty of Hut­ton Road.

WASA says that crit­i­cal pipeline weld­ing work, which could not be car­ried out dur­ing rain­fall, must first be com­plet­ed in or­der to progress the re­pair works. In view of this sit­u­a­tion, the es­ti­mat­ed com­ple­tion time has been ex­tend­ed to 4 am on Thurs­day 12 De­cem­ber, 2019.

“In light of this, an ex­tend­ed but still lim­it­ed wa­ter truck­ing ser­vice is in place to serve cus­tomers im­pact­ed by the on­go­ing re­pair works, with pri­or­i­ty be­ing giv­en to med­ical in­sti­tu­tions, schools and homes for the aged,” the WASA state­ment said.

It added that cus­tomers are al­so re­mind­ed that it may take up to 24 hours for the sched­uled pipe-borne wa­ter ser­vice to nor­mal­ize to some ar­eas fol­low­ing the com­ple­tion of re­pair works.

Wed Dec 11 2019

Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal Ser­vices ac­ti­vat­ed a Yellow Level Riverine Flood Alert
The T&T Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal Ser­vices ac­ti­vat­ed a Yel­low Lev­el River­ine Flood Alert un­til 2:00 pm, Thurs­day 12 De­cem­ber.

Rain­fall is ex­pect­ed to con­tin­ue in­ter­mit­tent­ly for sev­er­al hours.

Land­slides and land­slips are pos­si­ble in ar­eas so prone.

While the main riv­er cours­es re­main con­tained at this time, small­er rivers and/or trib­u­taries can reach max­i­mum ca­pac­i­ty lead­ing to flood­ing in sur­round­ing ar­eas.

South­ern Trinidad is par­tic­u­lar­ly at risk and some ar­eas al­ready are in­un­dat­ed due to lo­cal­ized pond­ing, and this may be fur­ther ex­ac­er­bat­ed at high tide.

Cit­i­zens are urged to as­sess their re­spec­tive en­vi­ron­ments and riv­er lev­els. Those in vul­ner­a­ble ar­eas need to con­tin­ue mon­i­tor­ing weath­er up­dates via metof­fice.gov.tt (or https://www.face­book.com/TTMet­Ser­vice).

For ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion on in­struc­tions, cit­i­zens can mon­i­tor the ODPM web­site at odpm.gov.tt8 hours ago
Wed Dec 11 2019

Unipet gets fuel after agreement 

Unipet agreed to pay all out­stand­ing debts and to with­draw its High Court ac­tion.

Both par­ties will con­tin­ue to work to­geth­er to en­sure a new Sup­ply Agree­ment is in place from Jan­u­ary 01, 2020.

Sup­ply of fu­el to Unipet re­sumed at 5.00 p.m.

Leveraging location for maritime growth – OBG

Trinidad & TobagoTransportEconomic News
6 Dec 2019

In the face of more stringent environmental rules on shipping fuel, Trinidad and Tobago is moving to position itself as a regional centre for liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering.

On January 1, 2020 new International Maritime Organisation rules will come into effect, designed to reduce sulphur oxide emissions.

The regulations will prohibit ships travelling outside designated emission control areas from burning fuel with more than 0.5% sulphur content in terms of mass, compared to the current level of 3.5%.

Furthermore, for smaller ships already using low-sulphur fuels, the new rules will restrict sulphur levels to 0.1% in the world’s four emission-controlled areas: the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the west and east coasts of North America.

Ahead of the implementation of the new regulations, a report released in August by investment firm First Citizens Research & Analytics outlined how T&T is well placed to capitalise on the changes and position itself as a regional hub for bunkering.

First, the country’s strategic location at the meeting points of shipping lanes between North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean, gives it a natural geographic advantage to meet new demand from the shipping industry.

Second, LNG is widely cited as a potential alternative to sulphur-based fuels, and could serve as a replacement for shipping companies looking to meet the new regulations.

Given the considerable cumulative usage of high-sulphur fuel – the shipping industry burned through an estimated 3.5m barrels per day last year – the move could have the dual effect of galvanising T&T’s LNG output and boosting the development of its port infrastructure.

The country has the only liquefaction gas facility on the Atlantic coast of South America, making it attractive as a bunkering location for ships passing through the region.

According to the International Gas Union’s “2018 World LNG Report”, the country has the eighth-highest nominal liquefaction capacity globally, and the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean.

See also: The Report – Trinidad & Tobago 2018

Gulf of Paria

The Gulf of Paria, located between Venezuela’s east coast and Trinidad’s west coast, has been identified as an ideal location for ship-to-ship fuel transfers. The natural harbour is also strategically placed to serve as an offshore trans-shipment hub for goods transiting between Europe, the US, South America and Asia.

The limited port infrastructure and unpredictable river currents in neighbouring Guyana and Venezuela are also an advantage for T&T, which can handle Supramax and Panamax ships in its ports and bays, as well as lower-capacity vessels designed for river transport.

“The Gulf of Paria is the ideal hub for ship-to-ship bulk transfers,” said the Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation. “This is due to its proximity to the Panama Canal and major shipping lanes, as well as relatively calm sheltered waters, making it well suited to connect vessels and goods moving through the region for destinations in Europe, Asia and the Americas.”

In 2012 German dry bulk shipping company Oldendorff established its Americas hub in the Gulf of Paria, handling commodities such as iron ore, coal and bauxite. The hub connects with ports in South America, the US east coast and Gulf Coast, and the Middle East.

Notwithstanding the firm’s decision to reduce the size of its operations last year on the back of falling trade, business leaders are underscoring the potential benefits of T&T acting as a regional trade centre in the gulf.

Further infrastructure investment

While the potential for the country to act as a hub for both bunkering and trans-shipment is widely recognised, further infrastructure investment will be needed to ensure the full benefits of future growth.

A 2009 UN report characterised the country’s maritime industry as being secondary to its energy sector, stating that “The focus on energy commodities and the exploration of these products has left maritime services and port development behind.”

In the intervening decade, infrastructure development has been limited by lower energy revenues. However, port expansion has continued. Indicative of this is the sustained and increasing activity in Point Lisas, as well as the number of cruise ships that pass through Port of Spain.

Elsewhere, T&T has also signed up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative to boost infrastructure investment from abroad.

After the country became a signatory in March last year it was announced that the National Infrastructure Development Company and China Harbour Engineering Company would develop a dry dock facility in La Brea; associated works will include deepwater channel excavation, offshore reclamation and terminal land construction.

Optimism resilient amid global headwinds

09 Dec 2019

Harry van Schaick
The Americas Regional Editor

Continually subdued commodity prices and a humanitarian crisis in neighbouring Venezuela are two of a multitude of challenging external factors affecting the economy in 2020. As the 7-island nation exits recession, business leaders in OBG’s latest CEO survey have reflected on some of the key issues affecting the country’s current economic trajectory.

With elections approaching in 2020, the business community has underscored a number of key priorities for any government managing the economy during the first half of the next decade. The CEO survey delves deeper into some of the more existential and structural issues facing the country, from climate change to crime.

In spite of the global economic challenges, such as unremarkable energy prices and an ongoing US-China trade war, two-thirds of CEOs remain notably positive about the country’s economic prospects, citing that they are either likely or very likely to make a significant capital investment in the country in the next 12 months.

While this figure is similar to the 2018 CEO survey result, the number of respondents that say they are either unlikely or very unlikely to invest dropped from 34% in that survey to 26%, with more respondents answering either neutral or do not know or N/A now than in 2018. This represents a marginal shift from negativity to uncertainty, potentially reflecting the unchartered nature of business in the year ahead, particularly as the upcoming 2020 elections approach.

Skills

According to the World Bank, the link between the skill set of a workforce and a country’s prosperity is intrinsic. Business leaders i were remarkably decisive about those that are most necessary for the country’s economic development. Leadership was the most popular response, selected by 43% of respondents.

In CEO surveys conducted in other countries in the Americas, such as Mexico, the choice of leadership for this question has arguably reflected business leaders’ emphasis on the need for a clear and coherent policy direction during times of economic headwinds. Notably, nearly double the number of respondents chose leadership than the next most popular option, customer service, which received 24% of the total responses. This likely reflects the business community’s desire for rapid progress on the two issues that have remained the most prominent in Trinidad and Tobago. There is anecdotal evidence from on-the-ground research, however, that the arrival of Venezuelans into T&T has positively affected both the customer service environment and the broader economy.

60% of respondents said that the agricultural sector was most vulnerable to shifting climate patterns. This is unsurprising given its reliance on regular rainfall patterns for crop planning and maintaining high production yields.

More crucially, to continue to leverage its agricultural production as a key component of its diversification strategy, it may require further climate mitigation policies to both safeguard and bolster production levels.

Challenges and opportunities in 2020
In terms of government policy post-elections, business leaders agree that the dual priorities for the 2020 government should be both to tackle crime (37%) and diversify the economy away from dependence on oil and natural gas (39%). While the majority of the country’s GDP is now derived from non-energy sources, the continually subdued global energy prices make the need for further diversification ongoing.

Crime is also an ongoing concern for business leaders and the public because of the related indirect costs such as security – both physical and cyber – and the insurance protection that is needed to recover any losses from crime-related activities. Iit is a noticeable metric in global surveys or indices measuring competitiveness or ease of doing business. Therefore, a poor performance on this front could have wide-ranging implications for the country’s attractiveness as an investment destination.

In spite of the multitude of global challenges, as well as the need to tackle ongoing domestic issues such as crime and diversification, the noticeable optimism of business leaders across the country could signal the start of a much-needed shift away from heavily public sector-managed policies towards a more private sector-led market in the next decade, regardless of the outcome of the upcoming 2020 election.

  BHP to build Ru­by Platform overseas

The Aus­tralian player con­firmed that it will not be con­struct­ing the Ruby plat­form at La Brea as the for­eign bid was more com­pet­i­tive. Com­mu­ni­ca­tions man­ag­er Judy Dane said a com­pre­hen­sive analy­sis showed that the lo­cal bid was not as com­pet­i­tive as oth­ers they re­ceived.

“As far as the plat­form fab­ri­ca­tion specif­i­cal­ly, sev­er­al lo­cal con­trac­tors were in­vit­ed to sub­mit bids dur­ing the process, on­ly one did. A com­pre­hen­sive analy­sis was done across all and the lo­cal bid was less com­pet­i­tive com­pared to the oth­ers.”

Sources in­di­cate the plat­form is smaller than others that Tof­co built for BPTT and that they could have eas­i­ly han­dled the job. The coun­try can­not build a sus­tain­able plat­form fab­ri­ca­tion in­dus­try if the on­ly com­pa­ny pro­vid­ing work is BPTT. BHP, EOG and sev­er­al oth­er pro­duc­ers have by­passed Tof­co’s fa­cil­i­ty in La Brea.

Previously, the gov­ern­ment was vo­cif­er­ous about the fail­ure of BPTT to build its plat­form in La Brea fol­low­ing work stop­pages and de­lays in its de­liv­ery. Now, the authorities are silent as La Brea again lost out on eco­nom­ic ac­tiv­i­ty as BHP de­cid­ed to build its lat­est oil and gas plat­form elsewhere.

En­er­gy Min­is­ter Franklin Khan and BHP dis­cussed the gov­ern­ment’s in­ter­est in buiilding the plat­form in La Brea. The de­ci­sion is a loss for the community which ben­e­fits from eco­nom­ic ac­tiv­i­ty gen­er­at­ed by Tof­co. The ex­tent of the loss de­pends on the size of the plat­form, the base­load and the num­ber of peo­ple em­ployed. Loss of work will have a neg­a­tive im­pact on tax rev­enues as Tof­co em­ploys a large num­ber of skilled work­ers.

The Ru­by project will lead to oth­er op­por­tu­ni­ties for lo­cal sup­pli­ers.

BHP plans to award 100 per cent of the Brown­field scope of work lo­cal­ly.
“We are is­su­ing EOIs (Ex­pres­sions of In­ter­est) for all goods/ser­vices as­so­ci­at­ed with the Ru­by project lo­cal­ly to max­imise op­por­tu­ni­ties. This rep­re­sents the en­tire­ty of the Brown­field on­shore fab­ri­ca­tion and off­shore in­stal­la­tion scope.”

BHP had or­dered over $20 mil­lion in equip­ment lo­cal­ly since the project was sanc­tioned and to date spent in ex­cess of $100 mil­lion to lo­cal ven­dors, lever­ag­ing lo­cal re­sources or sourc­ing equip­ment in­ter­na­tion­al­ly through lo­cal en­ti­ties.

“For scopes where lo­cal com­pa­nies do not have the ca­pac­i­ty, we ac­tive­ly seek demon­stra­tion that in­ter­na­tion­al com­pa­nies pro­vide lo­cal con­tent ca­pac­i­ties in their pro­pos­als (eg lo­cal main­te­nance re­sources, freight for­ward­ing, cater­ing ser­vices, off­shore lo­gis­tics, con­struc­tion/off­shore labour).”

The project team is com­mit­ted to con­tin­u­ing to pur­sue these op­por­tu­ni­ties de­scribed as well as seek­ing oth­er op­por­tu­ni­ties to utilise lo­cal ca­pa­bil­i­ties and build lo­cal ca­pa­bil­i­ty with­in the coun­try, hir­ing na­tion­als dur­ing the project to rep­re­sent BHP for scopes such as in­spec­tions, HSE over­sight, con­struc­tion su­per­vi­sion. BHP builds lo­cal ca­pa­bil­i­ties by ex­plor­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties to up­skill na­tion­als ei­ther di­rect­ly on the project or in­di­rect­ly.

In Au­gust the board of BHP ap­proved its more than $3 bil­li­on Ru­by and Delaware projects .

The IOC an­nounced the project is ex­pect­ed to add 16,000 bar­rels of oil to local crude pro­duc­tion, or at cur­rent lev­els in­crease to­tal pro­duc­tion by 27 per cent.

Its con­tri­bu­tion to the project will be $1.92 bil­li­on with the oth­er $1.08 bil­li­on com­ing from state-owned Her­itage Pe­tro­le­um and Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny.

“The project has es­ti­mat­ed re­cov­er­able 2C re­sources of 113.2 mil­li­on bar­rels of oil and 274 bil­li­on cu­bic feet of nat­ur­al gas. First pro­duc­tion is ex­pect­ed in the 2021 cal­en­dar year and is es­ti­mat­ed to in­crease pro­duc­tion by 16,000 bar­rels of oil per day (bop/d) and 80 mil­li­on stan­dard cu­bic feet per day (mm­scf/d) gross at its peak.”

Ru­by is lo­cat­ed in the Block 3(a) de­vel­op­ment area of the North East coast, close to To­co.

“The project con­sists of five pro­duc­tion wells tied back util­is­ing the la­tent ca­pac­i­ty of the ex­ist­ing pro­cess­ing fa­cil­i­ties, proven tech­nol­o­gy of the ex­ist­ing op­er­at­ed as­set, and new­ly ac­quired ocean bot­tom node seis­mic imag­ing.”

Ger­al­dine Slat­tery, BHP Pres­i­dent Op­er­a­tions Pe­tro­le­um said: “This is an im­por­tant mile­stone for BHP in T&T. Ru­by aligns well with our strat­e­gy of max­imis­ing val­ue from our ex­ist­ing as­sets, bring­ing com­pet­i­tive near term val­ue and vol­ume growth.