Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Dr. Roodal Moonilal has confirmed that officials are in ongoing discussions with Nutrien on contractual arrangements for the use of the port facility at Point Lisas and other related matters.
This comes as the National Energy Corporation (NEC) restricted Nutrien’s access to the port, owing to several million dollars in retroactive port service fees, which Nutrien has since disputed, and has instead instituted a controlled shutdown of its facility effective October 23rd. Nutrien also cited “a lack of reliable and economic natural gas supply that has reduced the free cash flow contribution of the Trinidad Nitrogen operations over an extended period of time” as another reason for the shutdown.
In a statement on this matter on Tuesday, Minister Moonilal said discussions on contractual arrangements for the use of the port and other related matters between both parties “are ongoing” and further updates will be provided in the coming days.
The Energy Minister said this matter is not specific to Nutrien, as other downstreamers and users of the port have also been in discussions with the National Energy Corporation (NEC) on contractual arrangements for the use of the port and other related matters.
“Those discussions have also focused on the need to update contracts. The National Energy Corporation, under the former administration of Mr. Stuart Young at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, failed, in over four years, to negotiate new contractual arrangements with several of the downstream operators. This fell to us as we entered office. Again, to confirm that this is a matter that is ongoing, and we are meeting with the various entities and users of the port to do what the former administration failed to do, which is to regularise and update contractual arrangements surrounding the use of the port and related matters.”