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POINTE-A-PIERRE MP David Lee called on the Prime Minister to reduce the price of gasoline at the pump in line with Dr Rowley's promises during the last budget debate to pass on reductions in the price paid on imports of refined fuels, addressing a briefing at the Opposition Leader's office in Port of Spain on Wednesday.
"The high cost of fuel continues to rip through people’s income and preventing many from meeting day-to-day expenses. Today, we want the Prime Minister to say why has he not lived up to his promise of reducing the price of fuel when the oil price fell?" Lee said.
"The Prime Minister in his budget debate on October 4, 2022 told us that 'If the average price was US$85, premium will drop to $6.92, super to $6.66.
"'If it drops to US$80, premium drops to $6.28, super to $6.05. And if it drops to US$75, premium will drop to $5.68 and super will drop to $5.43.
Lee said Rowley said a drop in world oil price from US$87 to US$77 would bring a fall in the price at the pump from $6.97 to $5.43.
"In the past weeks, the price (of oil) has dropped below US$80 and we have seen no change to price (of gas at the pump)."
He alleged a 14 per cent increase in transport costs last November, citing the Central Bank's economic bulletin for January.
Lee asked the Government to say if the Niquan gas-to-liquids plant at Pointe-a-Pierre had been non-functional for the past three months. He said Niquan had bought the plant at a peppercorn price and had benefited from loans from a bank owned by the TT taxpayers. Lee alleged that Niquan had exported no product.
Saying several personalities in the Venezuelan energy sector had resigned in recent weeks amid corruption allegations, Lee said the deal for Venezuela to supply TT with natural gas "was not happening any time soon."
He said the Prime Minister had gone silent on the Dragon deal.
"The reality is Dragon gas is simply a far-fetched dream as, up to this day, the Government cannot answer when first gas will be or if the Venezuelan government has accepted."
Lee alleged that since last June's bid-round when only four out of 17 blocks of oilfield/gas field acreage had attracted bids by energy firms, nothing more had been heard on the blocks. He asked if the Government or the energy firms had rejected the bids, saying that if the companies were not receiving the benefits touted in the last budget, they would leave TT to instead seek their opportunities in Guyana, now seeing an oil/gas boom.
Lee feared TT's revenues would be hit by a current combination of low oil/gas prices and low production volumes.
He said Finance Minister Colm Imbert had predicated the budget at and oil price of US$95 per barrel and gas price of US$6.00 per MMBTU compared to current respective prices of just US$81 and US$2.16.
Saying oil production was now at 1952 levels of just 55,000 barrels per day, he claimed the Government had done nothing to increase production and must stop blaming low volumes on TT being a mature province.
Saying Imbert had told a 2017 energy conference that Petrotrin was the key to more oil production as it held half of TT's total production, Lee alleged poor support for Petrotrin (precursor to Paria Fuel Trading Ltd).
"There were no joint ventures, there were no strategies for production. They shut down Petrotrin!"
Lee concluded, "With oil and gas production at the 'bottom of the barrel', TT is headed for another year of no growth or economic instability. This means more economic hardship for the people of our nation.
Newsday sent text messages to Rowley and Energy Minister Stuart Young on any intended drop in the price at the pump, but got no reply.
However on March 27 Imbert said the Government had taken no decision to adjust domestic fuel prices amid fluctuating global oil prices, addressing a virtual news conference on the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) 2023 Article IV mission to TT.
On the volatility of global oil prices, Imbert said, "One has to look at them over a suitable period of time. You could be at US$100 (per barrel) today and next week, you could be at US$75."
"We are monitoring the price of oil to see how it affects the fuel subsidy and we will make an appropriate decision at an appropriate time."
The IMF had welcomed Government's decision to partially liberalise fuel prices, so as to improve the efficiency and the sustainability of the public accounts.
The world oil price had steadily risen from 2020 to 2021 and into 2022, after which it shot up after the Ukrainian Invasion of February 24, 2022, reaching $123 on March 8, 2022, for WTI crude. It then dipped down to US$67.82 on March 20, 2023, and then improved to a current level of US$83.26.
The natural gas price peaked at US$9.336 on August 19, 2022, but steadily fell to a current US$2.093.
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