07-08-08 Energy Minister Conrad Enill said Trinidad and Tobago had nothing to fear from Venezuela's PetroCaribe initiative gradually replacing this country as the main energy supplier to the Caribbean.
Also sharing his view were energy analyst Anthony Paul and economist Jwala Rambaran. Rambaran said Government had been "on the ball" to this fact since the advent of PetroCaribe in 2005.

State oil company Petrotrin's usual Caribbean market sales of approximately 60,000 bpd fell by half since the 2005 creation of PetroCaribe, "which sells oil and fuel on advantageous terms to Caribbean and Central American nations," according to a report.
Enill said the current state of affairs regarding PetroCaribe was nothing to be alarmed about and this was why Trinidad and Tobago was looking at other markets such as the United States. He also said there were plans to upgrade Petrotrin's Pointe-a-Pierre refinery to create a new slate of products to export to new markets.

Even while concerns linger about a US recession, Enill explained that this would not harm the country's energy sector because there would always be a need for energy imports into the US market.
Petrotrin vice-president (refining and marketing) Kenneth Allum said the company had lost its market in the Caribbean "but the displaced products are now going into other markets," including the US.