00:00I can confirm that Nutrien, along with other downstream entities, have been in discussions with the National Energy Corporation, discussing matters pertaining to new contractual arrangements, revising terms and conditions and so on.
00:18Energy Minister Dr. Rudal Munilal's response to the announcement by Nutrien Limited on Tuesday, October 21st, that it has commenced a controlled shutdown of its Trinidad nitrogen operations at the Point Lisa's facility to be effective two days later on October 23rd.
00:36Nutrien said this shutdown is in response to port access restrictions imposed by Trinidad and Tobago's National Energy Corporation and the lack of reliable and economic natural gas supply that has reduced the free cash flow contribution of the Trinidad nitrogen operations over an extended period of time.
00:56We are in ongoing discussions with Nutrien concerning matters of port restrictions and port access and I expect that this matter will continue to occupy our attention in the coming days.
01:09The discussions are ongoing and we'll have further updates in the coming days.
01:15Nutrien said ammonia and urea sales volumes from its Trinidad operations are approximately 85,000 and 55,000 tons per month respectively.
01:25Nutrien said it will continue to engage with stakeholders and assess options with respect to its operations in Trinidad.
01:33Again, to confirm that this is an ongoing matter and we are meeting indeed with various entities and users of the port to do what the former administration failed to do, which is to regulate and update contractual arrangements.
01:47Some of those arrangements have been in place for many, many years and the former government failed to meet and treat with the downstreamers to even rectify some of the archaic and outdated conditions by which operations took place.
02:08Minister Munilal was responding to an initial statement made by Opposition MP and former Energy Minister Stuart Young on Facebook.
02:17MP Young said, quote,
02:18Trinidad and Tobago, this is the first sign of collapse of the energy sector under the UNC government.
02:25The new NGC and NEC boards are driving the Point Lisa's estate into a crisis.
02:31This comes after they forced the president of NEC and executive officers of NGC out of office, end quote.
02:38MP Young further said, quote,
02:40We should be very concerned about the level of incompetence that has been appointed to manage our energy sector, end quote.
02:48But Minister Munilal contends,
02:51The National Energy Corporation under the former administration of Mr. Stuart Young at the Ministry of Energy failed in four years to negotiate new contractual arrangements with several of the downstream operators.
03:06This indeed fell to us when we entered office.
03:08MP Young later told TV6 News, quote,
03:11The issue of port-related matters for downstream operators never arose for consideration by the Ministry of Energy under my tenure as Minister of Energy and Energy Industries.
03:22It was being dealt with by the expert management of NEC with a competent board overseeing the process.
03:29Unfortunately, that is no more.
03:31The current board is mismanaging the situation under Minister Munilal, end quote.
03:36MP Young then said, quote,
03:38To stop downstreamers from utilizing the port facilities has now led to a shutdown of a global operator which has serious implications for Trinidad and Tobago.
03:49Once again, the UNC is decimating our delicate energy sector, end quote.
03:54In response, Energy Minister Munilal told TV6 News, quote,
03:58Had former Minister Young spent his time working with NEC to negotiate proper and updated contracts with the downstream companies,
04:07We would not be in this position today, end quote.
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