00:00Member of Parliament for Port of Spain's South St. Anne's West George Young Senior Council
00:04wants to know where is the report from the committee led by former Energy Minister Kevin Ramnerine
00:09that was set up to look at the reopening of the petrotrin refinery.
00:13He expresses doubt that any nondisclosure agreements have been signed
00:17and says the process the government is using is anything but transparent.
00:22According to the MP, of the many companies previously expressing interest in the refinery,
00:27only few had the wherewithal to get it up and running.
00:30It is a very technical area and especially with our refinery.
00:36So what is the process being used?
00:38And this has us particularly concerned because we know the UNC's attraction to corruption.
00:47And so he raises suspicions over an alleged 50 million U.S. dollar deal
00:52signed between Italian company Tecnamont and Patriotic Energy's services company
00:57to undertake a rehabilitation plan for the refinery.
01:01So they will do that and they'll check the viability and they'll come up with a plan for the restart.
01:06Not that they're going to restart it.
01:08Where is that 50 million U.S. dollars coming from?
01:12Munilal run for cover.
01:14Young says that tens of millions of dollars are being owed by Patriotic Energy's
01:19from several court cases over which questions are looming.
01:22He alleges that this new company under the oilfields workers' trade union
01:26is a shell company with no assets, leaving more questions for the government.
01:31What is the procurement process being used?
01:35Where are the competitive tenders?
01:37I thought you had firms from India.
01:39I thought you had firms like Chevron.
01:41I thought you had firms from all over that have expressed interest.
01:47Who would enter into a 50 million U.S. dollar contract
01:51unless there's an exclusivity contract signed?
01:55On another note, Young is alleging incompetence over the running of the national gas company.
02:00He states that a decision has been taken to reallocate a lot of the natural gas
02:04to Atlantic LNG, which will result in better prices.
02:08But it's time to dissect it that depends on ammonium and methanol.
02:12And we are beginning to hear whispers that there may be corruption as well
02:18in the procurement and the sale of LNG cargoes
02:23because they always find a way.
02:25So that is also something that we will be looking into.
02:29Young says things were previously done in such a way
02:32to ensure continuity of the methanol, ammonia and urea plants
02:35at the Point Lisa's industrial estate.
02:37Last week, NGC took a decision to shut off gas
02:44to all of the pet chem players in Trinidad and Tobago.
02:50When I say shut off, they dropped the levels of gas that they were supplying
02:53straight down to their DCQ levels.
02:56This has led to the closure of a number of plants on the Point Lisa's estate.
03:02Young also sized the closure of Nutrien, the resulting shortfall of ammonia,
03:06and what he says will be an additional loss of hundreds of jobs.
03:10Information coming to hand and the question we're asking is,
03:15has the Nutrien group of plants at Point Lisa's been put up for sale with RBC
03:24being retained to see if they find a purchaser?
03:28This is a disaster for Trinidad and Tobago.
03:31Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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