MP Lee: PNM’s Petrotrin Shutdown a Disgrace as Trinidad Imports Fuel from Jamaica

Petrotrin Refinery
The recent news that Jamaica’s state owned refining company, Petrojam would be supplying Trinidad and Tobago with close to 1 million barrels of fuel oil at a cost of US90 million dollars is a true reflection on how our nation has lost its energy security, its ability to be self-sufficient and its reputation as our region’s energy capital as a result of this government’s mismanagement of our national energy sector.
Highlighting this issue is not grounded in partisan politics but rather in patriotism as it is a grave indication of how our nation has descended to a point that we as a once proud oil producing nation are now relying on a Caribbean neighbour that is not a traditional oil producer for a supply of fuel. Simply reflecting on the words of Petrojam’s General Manager Telroy Morgan that “Petrojam’s export deal with Trinidad and Tobago is a notable irony, given Jamaica’s status as a non-oil-producing nation” is a clear indication that T8T’s generational regional reputation as an Energy Giant has faded.
We in the Opposition find no joy in this. We in the Opposition take no pride in this disheartening plummet of T&T’s proud energy history but we have a duty to point out that this breach of our nation’s energy independence has come after years of warning this PNM administration of the grave dangers of shutting down Petrotrin. This is a moment of national anger for all right thinking citizens because from day one the Opposition has called out this government’s baseless, reckless and selfish decision to close Petrotrin.
From the start we in the Opposition told this government that Petrotrin was more than a refining business. Petrotrin was the heart of T&T’s energy security. Petrotrin was the key to maximising return to citizens for our own oil by refining it for global sale on our own terms. Petrotrin was the wall that protected this nation from the vulnerabilities of the global fuel market as we produced our own fuel. Petrotrin was the stable path that provided tax and forex revenue by selling our own refined product. Petrotrin made our nation self-sufficient. This Petrojam deal is now a clear indication that all of this is no more due to that dark day of November 30th 2018 when the government shut the gates of Petrotrin.
Seven years later, as the refinery becomes obsolete with each passing day, they have thrown away the key to our energy and economic success as we are unable to refine the resources we are blessed with. Even the construction and repair of the national road network has been jeopardised because we have to import bitumen from Jamaica. Our road repairs are no longer dictated by our own ability to provide the material needed but depend on our CARICOM neighbours.
For years this administration has tried to cover up the fall out or the refinery’s closure by using the same rhetoric “the refinery was not profitable”. On the contrary, we in the Opposition have always called for the re-opening and reinvigoration of the refinery because we understood that shutting down the refinery would jeopardise future generations. We in the Opposition understood that despite the” ups and downs” in refining, being able to refine your own oil and gas would always present major economic benefits for our citizens especially on the global fuel market. We understood that even leaving the refinery as a going concern, without shutting it down, would have prevented this regional embarrassment.
When citizens or those in the region ask, “how could T&T now be importing fuel oil from a non-oil producing nation?” the answer is simple. This PNM administration, without any care for the future, without any respect for the refinery’s success and any understanding of our refining model, recklessly shut down Petrotrin.