Milti-billion-dollar 'white elephant' at Petrotrin to be sold as scrap iron

Petrotrin chairman Lindsay Gillette told reporters Thursday the state company has decided to dismantle the multi-billion dollar World Gas To Liquid (GTL) plant and sell it as scrap iron. He noted that the result is that taxpayers would have lost $2.8 billion dollars.

"We actually considering right now, whether we should use this plant as scrap iron. That is a lot and that money could have been better spent looking for crude," he said.

"We spent $2.8 billion in World GTL in a plant that right now cannot work, it cannot function. It is about $2.8 to $3 billion of taxpayers money that was spent on a plant that cannot work," he said.

In 2005, Petrotrin and US-based World GTL entered into an agreement to build the plant in Trinidad, with a targeted completion date of 2008.

The foreign company accused Petrotrin of wrongfully expropriating its funds and filed a $12 billion lawsuit against Petrotrin in a US court in February 2010.

World GTL and its subsidiary alleged "fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, negligence and expropriation." The firm claimed that Petrotrin wrongfully took controlo of the $3-billion gas-to-liquid plant.

Read the story: US$2B lawsuit filed in NY against Petrotrin

Petrotrin countered by alleging that World GTL breached its contractual obligations by defaulting on a loan payment and the matter was placed in the hands of PriceWaterhouse and Coopers to act as the local receivers.

Gillette was also critical of opposition leader Keith Rowley, who harshly criticised Petrotrin earlier this week suggesting that the huge offshore oil find was a hoax.

"I call on him to unreservedly withdraw his remarks that the technical team at the State owned oil company fabricated a story about the oil find," he said. Lindsay accused the PNM leader of maligning the reputation of Petrotrin employees.

Gillette also confirmed that Petrotrin followed the international protocol in announcing the find only after the completion of confirmatory testing.

Commenting on the GTL plant, Gillette said it has been a "total disaster". He added, "I have been pulling my hair out of my head trying to find ways we can generate money from this plant and there are two alternatives, scrap it or do nothing and let it rot," he said.

"If you put it into context that is almost half of the country subsidy money that just went waste," he said, noting that the loss cannot be recovered

Gillette said Petrotrin's focus is now on finding as much crude oil as possible and reiterated the importance of the Jubilee oil find. "This really does spell prosperity for the country," he said.

Petrtroin's president Khalil Hassanali said the company may seek the aid of a foreign investment partner to monetise the crude oil.