IS THERE A 3RD PARTY IN PETROJAM PARIA DEAL?

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Is there a third party in the fuel deal between Paria and Jamaica's Petrojam? One energy consultant believes the answer is yes, and he's calling on the Energy Minister to say if this is in fact the case, and whether the trader being used was recently convicted of criminal charges. Rynessa Cutting has more from the MSJ Tuesday Talks.

Transcript

00:00Two days after the energy minister defended Paris' PetroGem deal as a win for both CARICOM

00:06nations and an all-round mutually profitable venture, one energy consultant is calling

00:12for greater transparency.

00:14According to Anthony Paul, Jamaica does not have the inbuilt capacity to provide this

00:19country with what has been negotiated.

00:21ANTHONY PAUL, Energy Consultant, Caricom Nations, Jamaica So, the last numbers I have was Jamaica

00:25is producing about 8,000-9,000 barrels per day of heavy fuel oil.

00:30Now, Jamaica's demand for heavy fuel oil is about 15,000 barrels a day.

00:36So clearly, Jamaica is importing heavy fuel oil to meet its own needs.

00:41So what that tells me is that what PetroGem and Paria are collaborating on is a trading

00:47arrangement where they are buying from some seller and using the infrastructure, the location

00:56to advantage.

00:57The energy consultant would like the energy minister to state whether a third party is

01:02in fact involved and identify the company.

01:05He's also calling for the name of the trader.

01:08PetroGem and Paria both took care largely through the same trader.

01:16And that trader has been involved in some high-profile corruption cases to the point

01:21there just last week, the highest Swiss criminal court found them guilty of corruption and

01:28levied substantial fines and jail time on executives and traders.

01:33So it really calls for some more transparency that, for instance, PetroGem is not being

01:40used as a third party to create an arm's-length perception.

01:44I'm not saying that's the case, but I'm saying that's out there.

01:48He says it is possible that this country is saving on shipping costs by sourcing marine

01:53fuel from Jamaica.

01:55But he believes more details should be supplied as to the benefits of the arrangement.

02:00To be honest, I don't have real confidence in the negotiation capacity of those in charge

02:08of our negotiations of our gas and oil and gas industry.

02:10I don't know what's being said, but what I've seen, I would have my doubts.

02:15Renassa Kattain, TV6 News.

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