Unipet, the privately-owned fuel retailer in this country says that while it would have "expressed interest in the past" to seek its own supply of gasoline and diesel, it has "a fantastic partner as well with" State-owned Paria Fuel Trading Company that satisfies its needs.
Unipet's Chief Operating Officer spoke with our Political Editor Juhel Browne about this and the new direction the company is taking during the 2024 Energy Conference.
00:00 When Unipet started 27 years ago, we innovated with P-A-D pump and bright new stations and so forth.
00:07 But the world has changed and we need to do things differently.
00:10 Unipet's Chief Operating Officer Kurt Hills speaking with TV6 News during the Energy Conference at the Hutt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.
00:18 Unipet is the privately owned competition to the state-owned fuel retailer National Petroleum Marketing Company Limited, also known as NP.
00:27 Mr. Hills said Unipet examined its entire ecosystem and is now what it calls an ETC or Energy Technology and Convenience Company.
00:37 We recognize that people need to have alternative sources of energy with the solar power and so forth and wind.
00:42 We recognize that how you do mobility, your vehicles and so forth, that demand and that need is changing.
00:50 We don't expect that fuel is going to go away, but people need choices, they need different opportunities.
00:56 CNG provided a role, but now energy, electricity is providing an even more dominant role.
01:03 But gasoline and diesel still play a dominant role in Unipet's business model and that of NP,
01:09 as both receive fuel imported by the state since the closure of the state-owned oil refinery in late 2018
01:18 when the government restructured PetroTren into Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited or TPHL.
01:25 At one point I recall Unipet expressing an interest to get a license to import fuel on its own.
01:32 Is Unipet still seeking to do that? And if so, how far along is that particular initiative?
01:40 Yes, certainly. So we always contemplate any sort of changes in our business model that allows us to transform and pivot in a way that really benefits the national economy.
01:49 We would have expressed interest in the past to do so, but we have a fantastic partner as well with Paria Fuel Trading Company that satisfies our needs.
01:57 Paria Fuel is a subsidiary of TPHL. Last October, the Finance Minister told the Parliament that because of the extreme volatility of oil prices,
02:07 it is difficult to estimate the required fuel subsidy in 2024 accurately and it may well reach $1 billion again.
02:15 And the pricing regime, given that of course you're paying whatever would be based on the market prices for gasoline and diesel,
02:24 how is that working in terms of your ability not only to maintain your revenue stream but also to expand your operations because of course you need the revenue to do that?
02:36 So the subsidy model is a very old model and we understand that there's an appetite from the government to make changes, which was announced three years ago.
02:46 But until then, it continues to work for us.
02:50 A reference to the plans that the government had announced as part of a reduction in the fuel subsidy.
02:55 It is a bit of a strain sometimes with the timing of repayment of subsidy on our cash flow,
03:01 but the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Energy has been very available to listen to our concerns in the industry.
03:08 And we have solutions that allow us to still meet the needs of our consumers with the existing model
03:14 until changes come about with the intended deliberation of the pricing model at the retail stage that the government announced three years ago.
03:23 Paria Fuel Trading Ltd is facing a recommendation from a commission of inquiry for the DPP to consider charging the state-owned company with corporate manslaughter
03:33 with regard to the deaths of four LMCS divers at one of its facilities in February of 2022 as it continues to supply fuel to Unipet and NP.
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