Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Dr Roodal Moonilal says the Government is confident that it will have a clear roadmap for the restart of the Pointe-a-Pierre Refinery by the end of 2026.
Speaking to TTT News at a Mature Basin Energy Symposium at Cara Suites on Wednesday morning, Minister Moonilal stressed that the process for the restart of the refinery will not be rushed, noting that legal, financial and operational due diligence must be completed carefully to avoid setbacks.
“We are confident that by year end we will have a clear flight plan for the refinery and we have done the groundwork, done the homework, we have done the lab work. So it is a question now of going through all the legal, transparent, fair processes because we operate within the legal framework and I don’t want a situation where we rush and then we breach the law, or we rush and then the agencies in Trinidad and Tobago put a red light in front of us.”
Dr Moonilal confirmed that the Government has received strong interest not only from international energy firms but also from local investors.
“We’ve had interest in operating. We’ve had interest in maintenance. We have had domestic interest as well in the sector. We are now on our way to putting a commercial and legal framework in place so that we can identify an investing consortium of some kind that may include domestic investment as well and foreign investment.”
The Minister acknowledged the delay in delivering on the Government’s promise to restart the refinery but pointed out that the Government is proceeding cautiously given the scale and importance of the national asset.
“It takes a little time, of course, but this is an asset of the people, so we must be very cautious on how we proceed. But I can say the good news is that we have several leading, global and regional investors involved.”
Dr Moonilal added that the Government is conducting thorough due diligence to avoid errors made by the previous administration.
“I am not going to be part of no Niquan business. No conman coming here and saying they could run a refinery and they never operate a parlour.”
The Minister pointed to successful refinery restart projects in countries including Nigeria and Ghana.