Energy Minister says T&T's focus is on creating downstream industires

Energy Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan told a conference of bankers and energy professionals Wednesday there is potential in Trinidad and Tobago for a new wave of manufacturing.

And she assured them that the People's Partnership government is creating the environment for it.

She told the conference on the downstream potential of melamine that the country's dependence on oil and gas will continue to grow unless there is the creation of sustainable downstream manufacturing industries.

“In a determined move to further develop the link to manufacturing and small industries, the Government has also mandated the development of smaller energy projects such as inorganic chemicals, which would have even greater synergies with the manufacturing sector,” she noted.

“We felt that strong as our energy sector stood and with over a century of leadership in energy, a narrow approach to production and monetisation left our sector and our economy in a still too vulnerable position,” she said.

Methanol Holdings, which is majority owned by the CL Financial group, commissioned plant at Point Lisas last month to produce downstream melamine and Urea Ammonium Nitrate solution, which is a a fertiliser.

Seepersad-Bachan said the new move by Government to market melamine is absolutely essential.

“The re-direction of Government policy has two core aims—spurring activity in the upstream sector by creating competitive conditions for companies interested in exploring our acreage and working towards energy efficiency programmes, the alternative and renewable energy industries and demanding and extracting much greater value for every cubic foot of gas we produce,” she said.

She said the aim is to prolong the life span of the energy sector.

“This will be achieved through improved consumption volumes through the energy efficiency and alternative energy measures, together with proving up more gas through exploration.

"And by increasing the value we create from the production of gas with measures that will see gas being used more as a fuel rather than simply feedstock,” she said.

Seepersad-Bachan said the challenge for the Government is to create downstream demand that drives exploration and production activity in the upstream sector, so as to stimulate competition which would give this country the best value for resource monetisation.