By Sue-Ann Wayow
AS long as there is a market for hydrocarbons in the world, Trinidad and Tobago will continue to sell its product as it remains one of the main sources of revenue for the country.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said while there was a thrust globally towards climate change and the reduction of hydrocarbons, there was the need to be realistic and that the market for hydrocarbon products in years to come will be quite different.
He was speaking at a press conference held at Piarco International Airport on Saturday following his return from the COP 26 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in the UK.
The conference runs for two weeks and several people from T&T’s technical team have remained for the entire duration.
The final outcome will not be known until after November 12, he said.
Dr Rowley said the conference was an important one to attend as T&T has a direct interest as an energy-producing country and the effects of the conference may have a detrimental impact on the energy sector.
Realistically, T&T can attempt to receive 30% of energy from renewable sources by 2030, he said. Currently, the country gets 10% of its power from renewable sources.
At the conference, four main issues received attention.
These were deforestation, phasing out the use of coal, phasing out the use of petrol and diesel in internal combustion engines and the cost of paying for the damage caused by excessive pollution.
Of the four, the main concern for T&T was the phasing out of petrol and diesel use, he said.
Dr Rowley said, “We certainly are in the business of selling a product that involves oil and gas, in diesel and gasoline and we are also an international seller of LNG (liquefied natural gas), hydrocarbon products and we are in fact deeply involved in petrochemicals. We have to keep our eyes wide open on what is being said about it.”
During his Budget presentation, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced a tax break for persons wanting to purchase electrical vehicles which Dr Rowley said was a step in the reduction of diesel and gas consumption.
Dr Rowley said, “We may need to prepare ourselves in the short term that one, we may still be providing to an international market. It is almost certain as we go further down the road that there will be some kind of arrangement taking place hopefully with our involvement agreement and not just being imposed upon us, that there are penalties on your products going into certain markets if the products are not green as they described and coming from a source that is renewable.”
He stated, “We have to prepare ourselves in the short term to defend gas as the cleaner fuel.”
Dr Rowley said soon the penalties are going to be placed soon on hydrocarbon products will contribute to all kinds of complications for the energy sector.
“The ball has just begun to roll on a slope,” he said.
“Changes will not come overnight in the way that people are asking but changes are coming,” he added.
The Government will be evaluating the possibility of using Green Hydrogen to ‘clean up’ the Point Lisas product so that it can enter the market safely and command a better price, being products that are using hydrogen from sustainable sources, he said.
He also said that Shell has confirmed their investment in the Loran/Manatee reservoir, which is shared with Venezuela of which T&T owns 27% and a production sharing contract will be signed on November 17.
One issue that needed to be monitored closely was the funding for companies that produce hydrocarbon as banks have already started to cease funding for some companies which Dr Rowley described as “ a dagger aimed at our heart.”
And he also mentioned that Government can consider increasing teak fields in a more structured manner because countries would prefer to purchase teak from cultivated forests as opposed to wild forests.
