The Trinidad and Tobago government says it has selected a preferred bidder to take over the operations of the oil refinery of the state-owned oil company, Petrotrin.
Prime Minister’ Dr. Keith Rowley responding to a question from Opposition legislator, David Lee, that the four bidders had been given until April to submit revised proposals, said “further proposals from the bidders were received and evaluated.
“After evaluation, TPHL (Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited) has identified a preferred bidder and is currently pursuing discussions with this equity. The process is ongoing,” Rowley said.
Rowley said he could not provide a timeline as to when the preferred bidder would be evaluated.
“Given the nature of what is happening, one cannot put a timeline on it at this stage, and it being only recent, it is reasonable to assume that as the work is ongoing, that a timeline as to when it will be concluded is not really feasible at this stage, and I’m not going to guess at that.”
As a State-enterprise, Petrotrin was under the direct control of the Minister of Finance acting as the Corporation Sole, and the Ministry of Energy as the line ministry that provides specialized technical analyses and statutory approvals for the company’s operations.
The government shut down the state-run Petrotrin and ceased operations in August 2018 at its only refinery, which then had the capacity to process about 140,000 barrels per day of crude, to curtail losses of over $1 billion in the previous five years.
The government said Petrotrin required a cash injection of $4 billion to remain in operation, upgrade its infrastructure and repay the nearly $2 billion in debt it had racked up.
Patriotic Energies, a company formed by the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU), had entered a bid for the refinery, but the interest collapsed in January 2021.
CMC/
