Heavy rains halt oil operations

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – Heavy rains over the past few days have shut down operations at the state-owned oil company, Petrotrin, but Energy Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan has given an assurance that the temporary closure will not result in a shortage of gasoline and other petroleum products.“I’m informed by Petrotrin officials that the complete restart process should take about two to three weeks,” she told reporters following the weekly Cabinet meeting.She said the government had taken steps together with the National Petroleum Marketing Company (NPMC) and Petrotrin to ensure that diesel, gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) would be available to consumers.The energy minister also hinted at the possibility of importing energy products.“We have already alerted the minister of finance and Cabinet that we would need funds to import products. Right now Phoenix Park Gas Processors Ltd, which also produces LPG, would be selling at market prices,” she added.The heavy rains have resulted in widespread flooding across the country and Seepersad-Bachan said this had also resulted in the loss of electrical power to the Petrotrin refinery.She said that a complete shutdown of the refinery had never happened before, and that while a temporary supply of power was restored to the refinery, utilities had to be properly checked.“We are restarting the refinery on a plant-by-plant basis. This is something that has never happened before, at least if it has, it was a very long time ago. We have never had a complete shutdown of the refinery.”Seepersad-Bachan said Petrotrin suffered a financial loss due to the shutdown but was unable to provide an estimate. However, the company was optimistic that the refinery’s crude distillation unit would be operational this week. (CMC)