One week ago today, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar received the interim report of the Refinery Restart Committee, and immediately signalled the intention of her administration to restart the Petrotrin refinery.
The Prime Minister’s confidence in the ability of the Government to facilitate the revival of the Guaracara (formerly Pointe-à-Pierre) refinery is supported by the findings of the interim report, which state that “despite its closure seven years ago, the restart of the refinery is technically, commercially and financially viable, given the current market demands for refined products and crude availability.”
The report also said the shutdown of the refinery in November 2018 “has led to degradation of the units and supporting utilities and offsites. However, the committee concluded that the newer plants, which were part of the Gasoline Optimisation Programme (GOP), were in relatively good condition.”
There is no doubt that restarting the refinery in the four phases recommended by the committee has the potential to provide a significant boost to T&T’s economy, as the report notes a resumption “will create significant direct and indirect jobs and local contractor opportunities and generate foreign exchange, thereby stimulating the national economy, with benefits for the fenceline communities that once supported the refinery’s operations.”
The reactivation will also reposition T&T as a major regional supplier of refined products, as well as strengthen regional energy security and resilience, the report indicated.
The committee, chaired by former minister of energy Kevin Ramnarine, also concluded that time was of the essence, as further deterioration of the refinery machinery would eventually render a restart uneconomic.
It is also useful to note that a final feasibility and restart recommendation for options is to be submitted to Cabinet early in 2026. It is hoped the Government uses the opportunity provided by the final feasibility and restart report to make public both the interim and final reports. The publication of the reports can be a useful tool in generating discussion, consultation and buy-in for the Government’s proposals.
A transparent and consultative approach would be useful for the Government, as it would serve to answer some of the questions that remain with regard to the refinery.
Among issues would be the extent of the State’s involvement in the reopening of the refinery and its operations; the estimated cost of restarting it; the status of the most recent preferred bidder, Oando PLC, going forward; and the role and involvement of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union in the reopening and operationalisation of the State asset.
The public would also relish clarity on whether Heritage Petroleum and Paria Fuel Trading—the two main subsidiaries established after the closure of the refinery seven years ago—will be subsumed into the new holding company for the refinery. This issue is particularly important because Heritage Petroleum generated $2.30 billion in profit before tax in its financial year ended September 30, 2024, while servicing debt of US$975 million.
In the three years before the refinery was closed in November 2018, Petrotrin’s audited financials revealed losses before tax totalling $5.5 billion. One of the reasons for those losses, many experts have argued, is that the refinery’s operations had to be sustained by imports of up to 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day in its last few years.
It is, therefore, comforting to know that the Refinery Restart Committee has considered this issue and determined that the refinery’s restart is commercially and financially viable.
