Trinidad and Tobago’s state-owned Petroleum Co. of Trinidad & Tobago Ltd. (Petrotrin) is progressing with its previously announced plan to end refining operations at the company’s 165,000-b/d Pointe-a-Pierre refinery (OGJ Online, Aug. 28, 2018).
Refining operations are continuing to wind down at the facility, with operations as of Nov. 1 shifting seamlessly away from refining crude to importing refined fuels and exporting existing crude reserves, Petrotrin said.
On Oct. 27, the operator received the first of 16 shipments of refined fuels to be delivered during the next 4 months under an agreement with BP PLC’s Latin America integrated sales and trading group.
On Oct. 30, the company said it also loaded its first shipment of oil for export, which included about 500,000 bbl of medium-octane, low-octane (Molo) crude to buyer Trafigura Oil Traders Ltd.
Because of the imported fuel volumes, motorists in Trinidad and Tobago currently remain unaffected by the refinery closure, the operator said.
While Petrotrin previously confirmed the phased shutdown would begin on Oct. 1, the operator has yet to reveal a definitive timeline for when cessation of operations at Pointe-a-Pierre would be completed.
Upon announcing the refinery’s permanent closure in late August, Petrotrin said the decision to exit the refining business comes amid a lack of domestically produced crude oil to serve as feedstock for the manufacturing site as well as the operator’s plans to entirely redesign its exploration and production business, with the restructuring exercise geared to curtail the company’s losses and usher it on a path to sustainable profitability.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
