The first export of crude oil from Petrotrin was loaded onto the tanker, Hellespont Progress, on October 30th 2018 and was delivered to the Caribbean Sea terminal of the trans-Panama pipeline. This suggests the crude was destined for an Asian or US West Coast Refinery. According to a press release from Petrotrin dated November 1st 2018, the tanker was loaded with approximately 500,000 barrels of crude oil which was purchased by Trafigura Oil Traders, one of the world’s major commodity traders. The crude went to Panama, to the port at the Caribbean side of the Trans-Panama Pipeline. The Trans-Panama pipeline links the Caribbean with the Pacific so the crude was probably eventually going to either a West Coast USA refinery or Asia.
Trafigura has previously purchased refined products from Petrotrin. The Trinidad and Tobago Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TTEITI) has reported that the company is one of the more transparent global commodity traders and is committed to the global EITI process. In keeping with their EITI commitments, Trafigura reports on the value of their purchases from state-owned enterprises such as Petrotrin. According to the 2017 Responsibility Report, they purchased 10.5 million barrels of refined product from Petrotrin in 2016 at a total price of US$ 506 million.
A few days before on October 27th, the company received its first shipment of refined fuel, one of 16 cargoes that will be delivered during the next four months under an agreement with BP’s Latin America Integrated Sales and Trading group.