A promise that the Government will not be allowed to find a partner for Trinmar's Soldado area without facing the wrought of the Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU).The promise comes from the OWTU president general Ancel Roget who, for the first time, responded to suggestions by Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine that the Government is considering its options with respect to the renewal of Trinmar's licence.
Minister Ramnarine told a breakfast meeting of the Energy Chamber in November that the Trinmar lease of the Soldado fields was coming to an end next year and the Government has to decide the next step."In July 2012, the licence for Trinmar's Soldado area will expire. This license dates back to 1952 and was first renewed in 1982. The year 2012 is, therefore, an opportunity to think about what we can do differently with the Soldado fields, which are estimated to have resources, as of the 2007 oil audit, of 400 million barrels. The heavy oil resources in Soldado have not yet been quantified, but is expected to be in the billions of barrels."
Several experts in the energy sector and the Energy Chamber have come out suggesting that the Government should use the opportunity to find a partner for Trinmar and Petrotrin.In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Roget said the OWTU would have none of it.He accused the Energy Chamber of having a vested interest in Petrotrin getting a partner so it can "ensure its friends and business partners take away the patrimony of T&T."The OWTU president general also waded into the Government, saying it is a mere six-and-a-half months before the expiration of the licence and the Government still does not have a clear way forward.
"The indecisiveness in 2011 without a clear vision is also an indication of their procrastination since taking office. They should have already charted a way forward and now they are taking us precariously close to the edge, all in an effort to ensure that there is a foreign investor waiting to take our assets. This, I can assure you, we will not happen."Question about the argument that Petrotrin simply did not have the money to maximise the Soldado assets, Roget said that view did not hold since, according to him, it's a question of priorities.
In a blistering attack on the Governance of Petrotrin's former executive chairman, Malcolm Jones, Roget said Jones and his management team redirected money from exploration and production to the refinery upgrade project that is now over-budget and a year overdue. He said had that money been spent on exploration and production, the company's crude production would have improved."If there is one thing I agree on with this Government is its decision to prosecute Malcolm Jones," Roget told the Business Guardian.
In an earlier interview, Jones said a partner had to be found for Petrotrin because it did not have the technical capabilities nor the funds to optimise its acreage.Energy consultant Kenneth Lalla is also of the view that a partner had to be found for Trinmar. He said even if the union's argument was right that more money should have been directed to Trinmar, what is to come of the on-land assets?"I do not believe that Petrotrin has the capital resources nor the depth of technical resources necessary. I am not saying there are not good people in Petrotrin, but not enough, and an example of the lack of capital is the fact that southwest Soldado has been off production for nearly eight years with an overnight loss of 5,000 barrels of oil per day, and the company simply has not had the money to bring it back on line."
Lalla said the heavy oil asset also needed a partner with experience in dealing with heavy oil in a maritime environment, which also supports the need for a partner.
