The Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Senator The Honourable Franklin Khan, has taken note of newspaper reports that could give the impression that it is the intention of the Government to sell the Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited.
However, for the record, the Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited is a strategic state asset that plays a very important role in ensuring the security of supply of liquid petroleum fuels for the transportation sector of Trinidad and Tobago and for the general public. The Company is also invested with the ownership of strategic assets such tank farms, port infrastructure and real estate which were previously owned by the predecessor company Petrotrin.
As Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, I wish to make it clear that the divestment of Paria Fuel Trading Company is not within the current mandate given by the Government to Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited.
Accordingly, Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited has been directed to withdraw and retract any advertisement or Request for Proposals that may have been inadvertently issued for the sale of the Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited.
The public is assured that the Government and the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries will continue to maintain oversight of the restructuring of Petrotrin and its transformation into viable, efficient and profitable companies, in order to ensure that all decisions taken in the energy sector and all associated subsectors are in the best interest of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.