The government of Trinidad and Tobago has formally expressed interest in having an arrangement with Guyana to refine its oil. This was noted in a government document seen by this news agency.
The Guyana Standard understands that the Coalition administration is of the view that this is perhaps, a suitable option. It noted in the document that Petrotrin, Trinidad’s National Oil Company which was sold last year September to Patriotic Energies and Technologies Co Ltd, holds a refinery that has received extensive upgrading in recent years.
It was further stated in the document that if Guyana were to go ahead with this option, there would be a need for configuration investments since the refinery is currently configured to refine heavy to medium crude while Guyana produces sweet light crude. When all the outlying factors are considered however, the government is of the view that this option, which appears to be the best at the moment, should be given due consideration and studied.
To underscore its agreement to study the Trinidad option, the government highlighted that Guyana independently pursuing a large, petrochemical refinery is not a viable investment. It was keen to note that a traditional refinery with capacity of up to 200,000b/d would occupy hundreds of acres and take USD $5 billion of investments. It was further noted that a refinery’s construction might take more than 60 months and generate as a consequence, a negative net present value of USD $2.5 – 3.0 billion.
