Last Friday, Colm Imbert said that the PP administration, in which I served as Minister of Energy for more than four years, did nothing to deal with the natural gas supply situation. This came as no surprise as Mr Imbert is the most predictable politician on planet earth. What is unfortunate, though, is that he occupies an office that requires statesmanship not gamesmanship. What is worse is while he was "ramajaying" in Parliament last Friday crime was raging out of control all over the country.
Given that I did nothing–I suppose the BP Juniper project dropped from the sky a few weeks ago, as did three other major gas projects. I suppose, too, that all the exploration of which he boasts was suddenly planned the day after election, seismic data quickly acquired and processed, rigs mobilised, contracts awarded and wells designed–it must be the 16-month miracle. I will not be surprised, in fact I predict, he will find a way to take credit for the increased in natural gas production in the second half of 2017.
Long before American politics discovered "post truth" and "alternative facts" we in T&T had "Imbertian facts." Here is one example:
Last Friday Imbert said when the PP Government left office natural gas production had fallen to 3.3 billion cubic feet per day. The Ministry of Energy's Consolidated Bulletin for 2015 says this is an "alternative fact." In September 2015, natural gas production was 3.8 billion cubic feet per day. There are many more examples I can present.
Imbert brags that in 2010, under the PNM, we had our highest natural gas production ever and then it fell under the PP administration. He didn't say what were the reasons it fell. In the business of natural gas what happens today is the consequence of actions or inactions of many years before. So, the seeds of the decline in natural gas production from 2010 to present were planted from 2002 to 2010 under a PNM Cabinet.
He does not explain that before 2010 investment in the energy sector collapsed. For the umpteenth time, I am forced to quote figures, facts and the truth. For the five-year period 2006 to 2010, petroleum-related foreign direct investment was US$3.29 billion compared with US$8.96 billion for the five-year period 2011 to 2015. This drop in investment was one reason a shortage of natural gas manifested itself and maintenance is another.
In 2011 to 2015, far from doing nothing, the Ministries of Energy and Finance were working with the oil and gas companies to get them investing again and the facts show that it worked. It is also a fact that these companies had warned the PNM Government, of which Colm Imbert was a part, that if the fiscal regime wasn't made more attractive the investment dollars would dry up.
There is a whole catalogue of newspaper clippings that I could send to Mr Imbert to substantiate this point. I doubt it would do much to change his political view.
On the issue of the BP-Angelin project, Imbert says we should have renegotiated contracts to make that happen and he now has to do it. The BP-NGC contract expires on December 31, 2018. When we left office there were more than three years left on the contract. Discussions had, in fact, started between BP and NGC in 2014. That being said, government is a continuum. Mr Imbert has been in government for the last 16 months. Why, then, hasn't the new BP-NGC contract been finalised in that period?
When PP administration was in office, we dealt with BP, BHP and other companies and got them investing again. We delivered Juniper on a platter to Mr Imbert. Does he expect that he would have nothing to do in ministerial office? You sir, are in government.
It's really sad to listen to him in the Parliament blame the Opposition for everything. People are looking to the Government for solutions and delivery. I can't say what the Government has achieved in energy in the last 16 months. They frustrated the BP TROC project, frustrated the Mitsubishi project, made zero changes to the fiscal regime despite talking about it a lot and they have not completed the natural gas master plan.
For the record, I initiated the natural gas master plan. It was completed and submitted to me just before election. The new PNM Government didn't agree with some parts of it–which was their right–but that was 16 months ago. The original plan took nine months to write. The PNM has been prodding at it for the last 16 months.
A Minister of Finance ought to be a statesman. He must rise above politics.
�2 Kevin Ramnarine is a former Minister of Energy of T&T.