00:00Despite experiencing a significant decline in oil and gas production in recent years,
00:06Energy Minister Dr. Runal Munilal says the fact remains that TNT's economy is largely dependent on revenue from that sector.
00:14The energy sector, he says, is also a main source of much-needed foreign exchange.
00:20Sadly, I recently took note of a statement made by the Honorable Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
00:26where he made comments on Trinidad and Tobago's forex situation and indeed compared our money to monopoly money.
00:37Maybe the Prime Minister should have shared his wisdom with his colleagues
00:40who were responsible for the collapse of our economy and the shortage of foreign exchange.
00:46He suggested that the previous administration with one move led to TNT's forex crisis.
00:53It is not my role to cast blame or aspersions on anyone, particularly any of the former leaders in the energy sector.
01:03I think the former Minister of Energy is having a bad week already, so I will not add to that.
01:09Further, the closure of Petrotrin and the Pointe-A-Pierre refinery would have contributed in no small measure to the decline in forex.
01:18Minister Munilal says in a week or two, a refinery restart committee will be set up to tackle that issue.
01:25Meanwhile, he says, one proposal to improve TNT's significantly declining onshore oil production rate
01:32will be to drill deeper, which was not previously possible due to Heritage not having deep rights for its four onshore blocks.
01:40Following negotiations with our ministry, the license of heritage for these onshore blocks have been amended
01:47to include heritage rights to a deeper horizons.
01:51In return, Heritage has committed to the drilling of one exploration well in each of the blocks,
01:58ranging in depths from 5,500 feet through vertical depth to 15,500 feet through vertical depth
02:08over the next three years, a significant milestone.
02:12Speaking to reporters following his address at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Energy Symposium,
02:18titled Rejuvenating Our Mature Fields and Basins,
02:22Dr. Munilal says a main issue raised by lease operators continues to be that of acreage.
02:29Even at this early stage, they make the claim that they need more wells, they need more acreage.
02:35If you need more oil, you need more acreage.
02:37And what has happened is that over the years, for some reason or another, and we look at that,
02:42Heritage has been reluctant to release acreage to the lease operators and farm-out community.
02:48And that is something that we'll ask the new board to look at,
02:51because we believe if you drill more, you get more.
02:54I mean, we know the risk associated with it as well as risky business.
02:58Dr. Munilal says with this, together with a few gas fields coming on stream soon,
03:04the short-to-medium-term outlook for oil in TNT is positive.
03:10Cindy Raghuwantika Singh, TV6 News.
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