Petrotrin is denying that lucrative oil wells are being capped to facilitate the $7.4 billion Solomon Hochoy highway extension to Point Fortin.
The clarification came after chairman of the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) Dr Carson Charles announced recently that 30 more wells would be capped this year to facilitate the highway construction between Siparia to Fyzabad.
Last year, Petrotrin got $50 million to cap dozens of wells in the south western peninsula.
But in response to the issue, Petrotrin's head of corporate communications Gillian Friday said none of Petrotrin's lucrative wells will be capped to facilitate the highway between Fyzabad and Siparia. She also said lucrative wells identified in the 2011 seismic survey were not scheduled for abandonment.
"Wells in Petrotrin's operating fields are only abandoned if they are marginal in terms of production, have the potential to cause harm to the environment, pose a health and safety risk or if they stand in the way of national development," Friday said.
She denied that Petrotrin was being reckless with the production of indigenous crude in light of falling oil prices, saying: "Petrotrin appreciates the need to increase production at this time and is currently undertaking initiatives to increase its production."
She added that no wells drilled from that 2011 seismic survey were scheduled for abandonment.
On Monday, OWTU president general Ancel Roget accused Petrotrin of capping off lucrative wells at a time when the company should be increasing productivity. He called on Petrotrin to identify all wells scheduled for abandonment.
"For quite a while we have been requesting that Petrotrin identify those wells and show us the latest reports about production of those wells.
"We believe that those wells carry potential for increasing indigenous land crude production and to cap those wells when oil prices are at an all time low, means they will be compromising the level of production in the fields," he added.
Roget said building a highway on top of oil wells was a recipe for disaster.
He added: "This poses great risk to the environment and to the public. We want a proper report because we find it strange that they are saying all the wells which are capped are unproductive.
"Is it that it just so happens that a highway which is supposed to be a straight road is meandering through unproductive well, or is it that it is passing over those wells and through the oil fields."
He noted that once the highway passed through the oilfields it would curtail the company's ability to produce oil.