Details in a pre-action protocol letter served on Minister of Energy Franklin Khan last Thursday indicate that state-owned Petrotrin does not own any of the lands on which it was operating.
The issue was made public yesterday by President General of the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget, who said decades of transactions and transfers on the lands ended with a single company, Morvant Building Construction Limited, holding the lease for all of the real estate on which Petrotrin is located.
This puts a different spin on recent Parliamentary debate for the vesting of all Petrotrin’s interests in new energy companies, Heritage Petroleum and Paria Fuel Trading.
At a media conference at the union’s headquarters in Paramount Building, San Fernando, yesterday, Roget told reporters Government was made aware of the pre-action protocol letter since Thursday but is trying to keep the matter quiet.
“All of the lands are owned by Morvant Building Construction Limited. There is no lease existing,” he said. “This is why this claim warrants an in-depth and thorough investigation.”
Roget claims Government does not have the legal authority to vest any of the lands belonging to Petrotrin.
“We call on the Opposition and members of Parliament in the Lower House and Upper House to thoroughly interrogate this issue before going any further,” he said.
“Almost all the issues associated with Petrotrin shutting down is confusing at best and it comes from a place of knee jerk reaction and they are bumbling and stumbling. At the end of the day, Trinidad and Tobago will be made to pay sadly for the mistakes that were made. They broke many laws and they are breaking many laws in their haste to shut down Petrotrin.”
According to the pre-action protocol letter sent to Khan by attorney for Morvant Building Construction, former People’s National Movement MP Peter Taylor states that directors of the company “have expressed acute concern” over the State’s intention to transfer all of Petrotrin’s exploration and production assets to Heritage Petroleum and all of its refining and marketing assets to Paria Fuel Trading.
According to the letter and accompanying deeds, some 37 acres of land changed hands twice before becoming the property of the Morvant Building Construction.
However, the Petrotrin Vesting Act of 1993 “cannot and did not transfer the fee simple title or any proprietary title” of the lands to Petrotrin, Taylor said.
Neither Khan, not Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley responded to requests for comments on the matter yesterday.