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Petrotrin is and will continue to dominate the news. And for good reason. We must keep asking ourselves how we got where we are. Why Petrotrin – the company supposed to be our crown jewel – ended up in such dire situation. And how we can prevent more joining the same fate as Petrotrin’s refinery, the Arcelor steel plant, the idle platform production sites in La Brea and many other abandoned or underutilised manufacturing sites across the islands.
Employees from across the business sector have ignored calls from trade union leaders to participate in an illegal national strike.
If the government wants to make a success of the new upstream focused Petrotrin one of the issues it will need to address is the impact of Supplemental Petroleum Tax (SPT) on investment in the oil sector. It will be difficult to attract the necessary capital investment unless this long outstanding issue is resolved.
The Petrotrin Point-a-Pierre refinery has been a major customer for many of the service companies and contractors who make up the membership of the Energy Chamber. A recent survey of over 400 companies who have been certified to work as contractors in the energy sector has revealed that 59% of these companies have provided goods and/or services to the refinery over the last 5 years. Thirty-nine percent of them currently provide goods and/or services.
There are currently four drillships operating in the waters of Suriname, T&T and Guyana. All four are exploring for hydrocarbons in water depths > 1000 meters. In June 2018, BHP Billiton resumed deepwater exploration drilling in TTDAA 5 when it spudded the Victoria 1 well. BHP has reported that, Victoria 1 encountered hydrocarbons (most likely natural gas) but apart from that not much more is known.
If the Joint Trade Union Movement of Trinidad and Tobago’s call goes ahead, the country will face another long weekend, this time through an illegal general strike this coming Friday.
Except for the fact you will never hear the word ‘strike’ coming from the unions’ leadership. Why? Because the Industrial Court has a history of narrowly interpreting the legislation and ruling in terms of what the action is called – not what the action is in substance.
Given Guyana’s demand for fuels, and its oil and gas production prospects, what are the economics of investing in domestic refining assets?
The Petrotrin Board of Directors met on 2018 Tuesday August 28 with its employee
representative unions and the Company’s management to announce plans to end Petrotrin’s oilrefining operations at Pointe-a-Pierre and to redesign entirely its Exploration and Production
business. The restructuring exercise is geared to curtail losses at the state owned oil company and get it on a path to sustainable profitability.
Last Tuesday, Trinidad and Tobago shook with a powerful earthquake, making many of us fear for our lives. Thankfully, despite some material damage, no lives were lost.
First, the good news. The new Angelin platform, commissioned by bpTT, is home to be installed. If all goes well, it will start producing much needed additional gas in early 2019.
Just as more noise is made about the future – if any – of the former Arcelor Mittal site in Point Lisas, European steelworkers are beginning to see the end of the tunnel in what have been nearly five years of bleakness for the industry.
Any functioning society must have mechanisms to put right what, sometimes, employers get wrong, especially when it comes to discrimination at work, unfair treatment and abuse of power. This is a given, and employment tribunals play a vital role in making sure employees are treated fairly and within the law.
Anyone who works with addicts will know that the only chance for them to face and tackle their demons is to acknowledge the addiction in the first place.
To be successful, timing is everything. People and nations succeed by doing the right thing at the right time. Do the wrong thing, or get your timing wrong, and you are doomed to fail.
Italy based contractor, Saipem has been awarded contracts for the second phase of the ExxonMobil led Liza development offshore Guyana. These contracts are in addition to those awarded to Saipem in 2017 for Liza Phase 1.
BHP has reported that they have encountered hydrocarbons at Bongos-2. The well was spud on July 22nd 2018 and was drilled using the Deepwater Invictus.
According to a press release, Shell has delivered first gas from its first well in its Dolphin Extension Campaign ahead of schedule in the East Coast Marine Area (ECMA).
BHP EOI for EPC and marine installation for Ruby Project
One of the primary objectives of NGC’s Strategic Plan is to restore balance to the gas supply scenario in Trinidad and Tobago. With supply currently below demand, the Company has been looking at different ways to bridge the gap. Measures have included partnering with Venezuela to monetise the Dragon field, lobbying for renewable energy uptake so molecules could be diverted from electricity generation, collaborating with upstream operators to bring new fields into production and continue their exploration thrust.
