Caption: The mothballed refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre. AZP News/Prior Beharry
THREE companies have been shortlisted to run the mothballed former Petrotrin refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre.
This according to Finance Minister Colm Imbert during the 2024/2025 Budget presentation on Monday.
The three entities are:
- CRO Consortium, a locally based consortium comprising three companies, DR Commodities Limited, Chemie-Tech and Ocala.
- INCA Energy LLC, a company based in the USA; and
- Oando PLC, a company based in Nigeria.
He said three were selected from ten companies based on five criteria including a track record of refinery ownership and/or operation; a reasonable and indicative financing plan, inclusive of working capital, and with support by credible financing institution(s) as determined by Scotia; and demonstrated transparency, credibility and openness, including the sharing of information, to facilitate the completion of the process.
Imbert said: “In this regard, I am authorised to report that Cabinet, after due consideration of the findings and recommendations of Scotia and the Evaluation Committee has agreed to the shortlisting of these three companies.”
He said, “A formal selective Request for Proposals process will now be initiated to determine the winner amongst these three companies, with a view to restarting the Refinery, if found feasible.
“It must be stressed that in this process, the Government has no intention of exposing taxpayers to the recurring billion-dollar losses that occurred previously in the operation of the Refinery, and the success of this venture is predicated on the principle that it be at no cost to the taxpayer.”
Imbert said since 2018, there have been two attempts to sell or lease the refinery and both efforts failed because the preferred bidders were unable to show any tangible evidence of their ability to raise the necessary capital to reopen and operate the refinery.
