Government is being asked to urgently resolve the deep concerns of petrochemical companies as it relates to the possible loss of some 30,000 jobs.
The call has been issued by Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh.
Some 24 plants have expressed concern by the National Gas Company’s (NGCs) reported multimillion-dollar investment to maintain the operability of Atlantic Train 1. This will substantially deepen the NGC’s role in the LNG industry and could create incentives to prioritize gas supply to its own investments, to the detriment of its clients.
This is deemed a conflict of interest as it makes the NGC a competitor to its own customers in the Downstream.
Indarsingh said he also fears that NGC may be in conflict as to how it routes gas supplies in the future.
He said “Should NGC be in such a conflict of interest, and should gas supplies to other operators not be available in the required quantities to sustain profitability for these operators, then there are dire, utterly tragic consequences for the many workers employed with these operators.”
Indarsingh also noted that over the past six years, there has been an unprecedented closure of several plants on the estate, including at Arcelor Mittal Tube City IMS, Yara, Methanol Holdings, Nutrien and most recently Methanex Titan.
He said “The energy sector has been severely curtailed and even destabilised by conflict after conflict,” and it would be a tragedy of the highest order to see 30,000 more workers join the breadline alongside the over 100,000 workers who have already lost their livelihoods under the Rowley-led PNM administration.”
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