Trinidad refinery: ‘Come and talk to us,’ says minister

Trinidad & Tobago authorities are in several conversations to restart the Pointe-a-Pierre oil refinery, according to energy minister Stuart Young.

“The government is constantly standing by, waiting, and encouraging persons. If there’s a potential for it to restart, please come and talk to us and let’s see how it could be restarted,” Young said in a local interview.

The 140,000b/d plant was shuttered in 2018 as part of the restructuring of state oil company Petrotrin.

Since then, Guaracara Refining, a subsidiary of Trinidad Petroleum Holdings created that year, oversees the refinery.

Before the shutdown, Pointe-a-Pierre was producing 40,000b/d.

“You need a few things to make a refinery successful. The first thing you obviously need is a source of crude oil, 100,000-120,000b/d,” the minister added.

Young highlighted that Trinidad Petroleum has a committee to review proposals and that the refinery’s restart is pitched when the prime minister goes abroad.

But Young did not elaborate further on the search for an investor to restart the refinery.

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