Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre made a blooper in Parliament yesterday when she said the former People's National Movement (PNM) administration signed an agreement with Cheniere Energy, "one of the world's leading producers of shale gas".
Olivierre made the statement while responding to Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie who said it was the last PNM government's lack of initiatives in the energy sector that was responsible for today's low oil production.
She said prior to the PNM's departure from office in 2010, it entered into the agreement with Cheniere Energy which had developed technology for shale gas.
It was Chaguanas East MP Fazal Karim who pointed out her blooper. Karim said Cheniere Energy is not a producer of shale gas.
He said the US company was in T&T to build an energy plant to use shale gas and the project Olivierre was referring to was one in which Liquefied Natural Gas was to be imported into the US.
Cheniere's Web page describes the company as "a Houston-based energy company primarily engaged in LNG-related businesses."
Olivierre said she was "also reminded by my colleagues" that the last PNM government had also finalised some agreements with Ghana for a hydrocarbon project but these and the Cheniere project were "killed" by the People's Partnership when it came into power. She was responding to charges by Tewarie that the PNM did nothing for the future of the energy industry between 2005 and 2010.
Tewarie said oil production was at 81,000 barrels per day at present. Production was 145,000 barrels in 2005 and around 95,000 in 2010.
He said there were no new exploration contracts between 2005 and 2010 which, if awarded, would have borne fruit today.
Tewarie said the sector was re-energised by the transformation of the fiscal regime by the last administration and "that's when investments began and drilling commenced."
He said these initiatives would yield fruit in the next couple of years.
It was important to understand these things "in the face of the misinformation being peddled as information by the Government," he said.
Karim, in his contribution, warned the Government to "be very careful how you are firing people. When you fire people, you destroy a family and a village and a community."