(Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, 6.Feb.2022) — The Prime Minister has instructed Energy Minister Stuart Young to lay the full details of the arbitration proceedings between with A&V Oil and Gas Drilling and Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd (TPHL) in what was called the “fake oil” scandal
He made the statement during a PNM virtual meeting in Laventille on Saturday.
In 2017, then state oil company Petrotrin terminated A&V Oil’s contract to explore and supply oil from the Catshill field in Trinidad, ejected it from the field, alleging that the company had fraudulently overstated the volumes of oil that it had been producing and delivering to it.
Petrotrin was closed on November 2018. It was replaced by TPHL in 2019 which consists of Heritage Petroleum, Guaracara Refining and Paria Fuel Trading.
In November 2021, TPHL announced a settlement in an arbitration dispute with A&V Oil.
A&V Oil will receive $18 million as full and final payment for any and all damages suffered by it in connection with the termination of the production sharing contract.
TPHL said this settlement avoids the payment of millions of dollars more in damages to A&V Oil, which was awarded by an arbitration panel. In addition to the $18 million payment, A&V Oil will get a new exploration licence with national oil company, Heritage Petroleum.
Heritage will enter into an enhanced production service contract with A&V Oil for the purchase of crude oil for a period of ten years as an indication of the cordial nature of the settlement.
Dr Rowley has identified A&V Oil owner Nazim Baksh as a friend.
After saying the UNC continues to mislead the population on that matter, Rowley said, “I want you to read those documents and figure out if anybody in their right senses could be talking about when I get back into government, I am going to reopen the Petrotrin matter.”
He asked, “What is there to reopen?”
Rowley reminded the population, “The matter has gone to arbitration. Three judges sat on the evidence.” He added it was determined that Petrotrin had not lost anything.
While some people could try to use this as political issue, he said, “The people must know what the arbitrators said.”
He also described a union leader’s celebration of S&P Global Ratings downgrade of TPHL from BB to B+ last week.
In a statement, TPHL attributed the downgrade to the delayed issuance of TPHL’s 2019 consolidated audited financial statements, and the tight maturity profile of upcoming debt payments.
TPHL said it “has been proactively working through both issues for quite some time, and we expect them to be resolved within short order.”
Defending Government’s decision to restructure Petrotrin, Rowley said the union leader would not tell the public, his union rejected a offer which could have seen workers get 20 per cent of the company’s shares, or about the profits Heritage has experienced over the last three years. He disclosed that Heritage will soon announce another $1.2 billion profit. Rowley was referring to OWTU president general Ancel Roget who on Friday said the union felt vindicated by the S&P downgrade and said it reflected mismanagement by TPHL. The OWTU has made unsuccessful bids for the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery now held by TPHL and for which Government is reviewing international offers.
____________________
