Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Chamber Dr. Dax Driver says that while there are green shoots emerging in the energy sector, a number of challenges remained that needed to be addressed.
Driver was one of the feature presenters at yesterday's event entitled "Spotlight on Trinidad and Tobago’s Financial Circumstance: The Road Ahead" held at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Port-Of-Spain
"We are seeing greater investments in the upstream gas business, with firms planning to spend US$10 billion in capital expenditure over the course of the next four to five years. In the short term however, this does not necessarily translate into immediate revenue for the government" Driver said.
The Chamber president added that while much was being done to improve the level of investment in the sector, a number of challenges persisted that resulted in the inefficient use of already strained gas supply.
He said: "A number of buildings across the country need to be upgraded to become more energy efficient. Higher levels of energy efficiency reduce gas wastage with this additional gas now being able to feed some the those companies starved in the petrochemical sector that generate foreign exchange earnings for country"
Driver also appealed for adjustments to be made to the current electricity pricing regime.
"Electricity pricing needs to be addressed. The National Gas Company is subsidising the country's energy consumption and is owed significant sums by T&TEC" he said.
According to Driver, greater emphasis needed to be placed on driving the services side of the energy sector business, stating that "T&T needs to position itself as a hub for energy service activity in the region"
Focusing on the issue of local content, Driver pointed out that local firms needed to remain both labour and cost competitive to ensure sustainable business
"Seeing platforms fabricated in Mexico versus T&T is not good for our economy." he said
