The ministry gave the assurance in a brief statement from the minister, Kevin Ramnarine.
"The Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs and the Trinidad and Tobago National Petroleum Marketing Company Limited (NP) wish to advise the public that there is no shortage of fuel throughout the service station network," the release said.
It added, "NP continues to deliver fuel and assures the traveling public that supplies are being made to all its service stations."
The minister was responding to rumours of a fuel shortage caused by a shutdown at the filling bond at Pointe-a-Pierre, which led to a temporary closure of the Marine division and the refinery.
That action could escalate Monday, with workers at the Exploration and Production division also planning to stop work.
The President General of the OWTU said on Sunday his union and Petrotrin management met for five hours Sunday but were unable to resolve contentious issues that had to be approved by the board of directors.
Roget said two of the issues were part of the February 17 agreement between the union and the company that remain unfulfilled.
If workers walk off the job Monday it could lead to shortages of fuel since there would be no deliveries to gas stations across the country. "Inevitably, this would lead to a shortage," he told the Express newspaper.
"We have the outstanding issues of the unpaid variable pay for the 2009-2010 period, the still unfulled vacancies and the issue of privatising areas of Petrotrin," he said.
Roget said the management can deal with the more than 500 unfilled vacancies. However he said the board is preventing them from acting.
Petrotrin's president Khalid Hassanali told the Express he was "a little surprised that the variable pay for 2009/2010 came up because that was not part of the agreement in February." He said the issue of the unsettled variable pay has been sent to the Industrial Court for an "interpretation" of the formula.
Hassanali and Ramnarine have said that contingency measures are in place to ensure that the country does not suffer a fuel shortage.
It added, "NP continues to deliver fuel and assures the traveling public that supplies are being made to all its service stations."
The minister was responding to rumours of a fuel shortage caused by a shutdown at the filling bond at Pointe-a-Pierre, which led to a temporary closure of the Marine division and the refinery.
That action could escalate Monday, with workers at the Exploration and Production division also planning to stop work.
The President General of the OWTU said on Sunday his union and Petrotrin management met for five hours Sunday but were unable to resolve contentious issues that had to be approved by the board of directors.
Roget said two of the issues were part of the February 17 agreement between the union and the company that remain unfulfilled.
If workers walk off the job Monday it could lead to shortages of fuel since there would be no deliveries to gas stations across the country. "Inevitably, this would lead to a shortage," he told the Express newspaper.
"We have the outstanding issues of the unpaid variable pay for the 2009-2010 period, the still unfulled vacancies and the issue of privatising areas of Petrotrin," he said.
Roget said the management can deal with the more than 500 unfilled vacancies. However he said the board is preventing them from acting.
Petrotrin's president Khalid Hassanali told the Express he was "a little surprised that the variable pay for 2009/2010 came up because that was not part of the agreement in February." He said the issue of the unsettled variable pay has been sent to the Industrial Court for an "interpretation" of the formula.
Hassanali and Ramnarine have said that contingency measures are in place to ensure that the country does not suffer a fuel shortage.
No comments:
Post a Comment