00:00One day after Nutrien announced it would indefinitely shut down its Trinidad nitrogen operations at the Point Lisa's facility due
00:09to ongoing natural gas constraints and uncertainty, Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Dr. Rudal Mounilal says discussions continue.
00:19The workers are not home. They are employed at this moment. They receive their salary package. We are in discussions
00:28with Nutrien even at this time, looking at the situation to see what future investment we could look at, what
00:34is on the table for us to examine or re-examine as the case may be. I've been in touch
00:41with Nutrien yesterday and I will be in touch with Nutrien later today as well.
00:45He says the UNC government inherited an energy sector with declining oil and declining gas, and while they are working
00:54on multiple projects to bring more gas on stream by 2027, they respect Nutrien's position.
01:01We are not closing the door on any matter involving that complex. We see the critical importance of it to
01:10Trinidad and Tobago and to the hemisphere as well.
01:13So it is something that we are not turning our back to, but we are respectful of Nutrien's position, which
01:18is a commercial matter, and we are hoping that we can continue the dialogue, notwithstanding the events of yesterday morning.
01:26Meanwhile, Dr. Munilal says he believes the outstanding negotiations between NGC and other downstreamers will resolve itself when more gas
01:36comes on stream next year.
01:38The humanity is there. We have the discussions on Loran and Dragon, and we are hoping that that will be
01:44dealt with urgently, and we could come to our conclusion on that, cross the finishing line, and that will give
01:50us the breadth so that we could enter contractual relationship with the downstreamers for their three-year supply of gas,
01:57which is what they want.
01:58The steel mill, the steel mill, the data centers, they are all powered by gas. We have several programs coming
02:04on stream and online soon in 2027, so we are looking at 2027 as a turning point.
02:10If we can move forward with Dragon and Loran One, passing through the humanity infrastructure, we are in a relatively
02:18good position.
02:20Cindy Raguba, Tika Singh, TV6 News.
