Although a lot has been done in the last year in the energy sector, more needs to be done, Roger Packer, president, T&T Energy Chamber, said on Monday.
"The last year since our last Energy Conference has been a challenging one for T&T in the energy sector, in particular, for the gas and petrochemical sectors. In many ways, this past year was the one in which we finally saw the full results of previous inaction and our slowness as a country to react to changing global trends," he said.
Packer was speaking at the opening ceremony of the T&T Energy Conference 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad hotel, Port-of-Spain. Packer said the new oilfield find from Petrotrin and Bayfield and a gas find from bpTT are significant.
"As we move into 2013, it is vital that we keep up the momentum of structural reforms to our energy sector and, indeed, deepen and accelerate the reforms taking place. The question that we need to ask in this conference is: Have we done enough? In the view of the Energy Chamber, the answer to that question is probably not," he said.
Packer said there have been significant changes to the oil and gas taxation regime in the past few years, such as reduced supplemental petroleum tax rates, introduction of new incentives and removal of value added tax on equipment, but these have not been enough.
"In the gas sector in particular, we have a difficult balancing act to perform in order to create a structure that is able to attract investment across the entire value chain-upstream, mid-stream and downstream," he said. He said the recent announcement that a major petrochemical complex will be built by Mitsubishi and Neal and Massy highlights the fact that T&T is still able to attract investment.
"This opens intriguing possibilities for diversification of the economy. The Government should be encouraged to work closely with Mitsubishi and their partners to take advantage of these possibilities," Packer said.
He added while some people talk about the "T&T model'" for energy sector development, the reality is that it is not really a single model: "It would be more accurate to say that we have followed some general principles and have been flexible and made changes to the structure over time. We are in the midst of another change."