Skip to playerSkip to main content
CCNTV6
  • 7 months ago
As the UNC government gears up to QUOTE, "rebuild the energy sector", newly-appointed Energy Minister Roodal Moonilal says, his first order of business will be to restart the Petrotrin refinery.
Transcript
00:00The UNC-led government is standing firm on its promise to restart the Petrogen refinery,
00:06preferably as a state entity.
00:09The first thing is of course to review that matter with the refinery,
00:13whether a deal has been made, what is the nature of that deal,
00:16and we will look to have an independent assessment on the state of the refinery
00:20and work with the OWTU, with the workers and other stakeholders
00:24to look at the feasibility of quickly restarting the refinery at point of year.
00:28The refinery has been closed for seven years
00:31and is estimated to cost up to one billion U.S. dollars to bring back into full operation.
00:38We will first ascertain how much it will take precisely.
00:42We will work with the trade union and others to look at a capital injection.
00:46We may need that to look at sources of funding given the importance of that operation to our economy
00:53and to building energy trade relationships with our regional partners.
00:59That is a priority.
01:00The previous PNM government had recently entered into a deal with Nigerian energy company, Oando PLC,
01:08but there is no confirmation as to the status of the deal.
01:12I will want to get the facts on it.
01:13As you know, it has been a secret deal.
01:16On Monday morning, there are no secrets from me,
01:18so that we will get all the facts and I will brief the Prime Minister and take action.
01:23Attempts to get information from former Energy Minister Stuart Young proved futile.
01:28Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
Be the first to comment
Add your comment