Petrotrin says shutdown was planned

State-owned oil company Petrotrin said yesterday that it is in the middle of a planned shutdown to carry out maintenance on certain plants. In response to the lead story in the Sunday Guardian, the company reiterated in a statement that the shutdown was “in accordance with our strategic project plans and processes.” “Part of the overall strategy encompassed both labour relations and product inventory management. 

“In respect of labour, the OWTU represents the workers engaged in this shutdown and it is for this reason, the OWTU’s support was obtained and a Memorandum of Agreement was executed on January 8, 2014, between Petrotrin and the OWTU for the utilization of company labour. “Apart from labour relations, Petrotrin’s management has been actively engaged in managing the product inventory.

“Petrotrin is utilising smaller distillation units for processing equity crude to supply product to critical markets.” The company said a US$150 million bond had been redeemed or paid off since January 17, 2012.