PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad--On the day it was supposed to start searching for buyers, the government has halted the sale of Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd., the successor to Petrotrin which was set up to secure a steady supply of fuel to meet the country’s needs.
In a statement on Sunday, Energy Minister Franklin Khan said he had directed Paria Fuel’s parent company Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd. (TPH) “to withdraw and retract any advertisement or Request for Proposals that may have been inadvertently issued for the sale of the Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd.”
When Petrotrin closed last year, TPH was established with three subsidiaries: Heritage Petroleum, which will oversee the exploration and production (E&P) business; Paria Fuel Trading Company and Guaracara Refining Company which is responsible for the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery.
TPH has already put Guaracara, for which the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) had first preference, on the market.
“I wish to make it clear that the divestment of Paria Fuel Trading Company is not within the current mandate given by the government to Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd.,” Khan said.
He said Paria Fuel was a strategic State asset that plays a very important role in ensuring the security of supply of liquid petroleum fuels for the transportation sector of Trinidad and Tobago and for the general public. ~ Daily Express ~
