Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, who calls himself Trinidad and Tobago’s “number one salesman,” was hard at work yesterday promoting this nation as the area’s best option for a promising energy future.
A delegation of regional leaders, including Prime Minister Rowley, arrived in Georgetown, Guyana to take part in the International Energy Conference and Exhibition at the Guyana Marriott hotel.
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“The regional energy landscape does not equip any single country to meet the energy security requirements of the region. A cooperative approach allows for shared risks and diversified perspectives and will facilitate the development and execution of innovative solutions to the challenges associated with the energy demand for the region,” according to Rowley.
Because of this, T&T, according to Rowley, has adopted a deliberate strategy to include its neighbors in the growth of economic cooperation in the energy sector.
He listed the agreements that will permit the development of hydrocarbon resources along the shared ocean boundaries with Bolivia, Venezuela, Barbados, and Grenada.
He said that a Memorandum of Understanding had also been linked with Guyana and Haiti.
But, according to Rowley, investments in enabling infrastructure and technology can be expensive, perhaps to the point of being prohibitive, given the current economic climate.
However, he said that T&T might support that area.
The PM noted, “T&T has the energy infrastructure to monetize hydrocarbon resources produced by its Caribbean neighbors. The country possesses ten ammonia plants, seven methanol plants, four LNG plants, an iron and steel complex, which at peak performance utilized as feedstock four bcf of natural gas per day, and an oil refinery that processed up to 140,000 barrels of oil per day. Our current natural gas production averages 2.8 bcf per day and we are still exploring the market for a user for the oil refinery,” the PM said.
This was not the first time Rowley promoted the mothballed Petrotrin Pointe-a-Pierre refinery in his 25-minute speech yesterday, as he stated the refinery and its supporting infrastructure are available for “restart, upgrade and use on reasonable terms to any interested refiner or crude supplier.”
“T&T, therefore, provides a viable option for those countries that wish to optimize the monetization of their hydrocarbon resources without incurring the substantial capital expenditure. The proposed Dragon Gas Project with the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela is an example of government-to-government cooperation in the monetizing of natural gas resources. We are open to discussion with our other Caribbean neighbors on the monetization of their hydrocarbon resources in T&T. We would also wish to assist you in developing programs to meet the necessary training needs of your energy personnel,” Rowley said.
“T&T possesses a number on non-governmental and government agencies that have been meeting the human resource development needs of the energy and industrial sectors of T&T, as well as emerging oil and gas economies.”
According to Rowley, leaders in the region, which is a developing significant oil and gas producer, have a window of opportunity to be proactive in utilizing their pooled knowledge and skills to maximize future potential.
“Linking the energy and industrial transformations to a collaborative economic strategy would ensure that the region makes the most out of its abundant oil and gas resources. We must use our energy resources for the benefit of our people, to build resilience and scale in our economies, and to create energy security for the region,” he noted.
According to Rowley, leaders in the region, which is a developing significant oil and gas producer, have a window of opportunity to be proactive in utilizing their pooled knowledge and skills to maximize future potential.
