101 years laid to rest30 Aug 2018 11:20
On the eve of the country’s 56th anniversary of Independence, the board of Petrotrin announced it was shutting down the state oil company’s refinery and marketing operations, choosing instead to focus on exploration and production.
Over 2,500 jobs will be affected, and all refining jobs — about 1,700 — will be terminated as the company begins its transition period on October 1.
The tragedy of Petrotrin goes beyond the immediate impact of job losses, though. One of the major casualties of this decision is the 101-year-old Pointe-a-Pierre refinery – once the crown jewel in a collection of state enterprises that has now lost its lustre, a beacon of nationalism whose light is now dulled.
“We are now 101 years old in the refinery business and the purpose of getting into it is no longer relevant, but we are holding on to it because there are emotional ties. And because it is there, what we’ve done now as a board is look at it hard and said, 'Hey, let’s start from a clean sheet'," chairman Wilfred Espinet told a media conference on Tuesday.
In the beginning
The Pointe-a-Pierre refinery has had a storied history. First set up in 1917, it was once the biggest in the British Empire. During World War II the refinery was identified as an asset to be “protected at all cost” as a major supplier of aircraft fuel for the Allied forces. In 1940, refining capacity in Trinidad and Tobago was recorded at 28.5 million barrels per year.
In 1956, US company Texaco acquired the refinery, and in 1985, the government, through Trintoc (1974) bought over Texaco’s assets except Trinmar. In 1993, Trintoc and Trintopec were incorporated into Petrotrin. The board had most recently claimed that as part of the restructuring, initiated on March 1, it would split the company’s operations into two arms — exploration and production and refining and marketing. The announcement to shut down the refinery, then, came as a surprise to most.
It’s a bold move, because the nostalgia surrounding Petrotrin and Pointe-a-Pierre is palpable — especially for south Trinidad. The livelihoods of thousands more than 5,000 direct employees of the company are intertwined with the refinery — from restaurants to the technical service providers who have had their base in and around the San Fernando/Marabella area, including Vistabella and Gasparillo.
“It’s a whole domino effect,” said president of the San Fernando Business Association, Daphne Bartlett.
Local historian Prof Brinsley Samaroo has likened the refinery’s end to the closure of Caroni (1975) Ltd, which also had rippling effects throughout local communities of south and central Trinidad.
“The refinery was crucial to the development of Trinidad, from Claxton Bay to San Fernando and beyond. The whole area was developed when the refinery was opened and the opportunities it provided,” he told Business Day.
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