Petrotrin president admits declining oil production

Petrotrin’s executive president Malcolm Jones admitted that depleting reserves have led to a reduction in the company’s oil production. However, he said the production loss was not significant, although he acknowledged that the decline in output was impacting on the company’s profit margin.
“I would not say it is a significant reduction, but there is always a normal decline, a natural decline and there is a decline in production, yes,” Jones said. He spoke following the opening of the National Petroleum Carousel Cocoyea Service Station in San Fernando.

Asked about the impact on the State-owned oil company’s operations, Jones said, “It must affect us".
“If the production rate is falling, surely your income will also be affected. Remember, this is a depleting resource and until and unless you keep on finding new reserves, whatever reserves you have, you produce. So the amount there will reduce and it will be depleted, that’s normal.”

He denied recent suggestions by president general of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) Errol Mc Leod, that Trinidad and Tobago could derive more benefits if local oil producing fields were resuscitated.
Speaking at the OWTU’s public policy forum, Mc Leod said in the midst of high demand and prices for oil, Trinidad and Tobago’s production had dropped in the last five years and lucrative oilfields at Trinmar remained abandoned.
Jones said, “It is normal to have reserves decline and that’s what we are facing -- declining reserves”.

UWI Petroleum economics lecturer Gregory Mc Guire said at the same forum, that it had escaped many people that local oil production is on a serious decline.
“Whereas, two years ago, we were up to 155,000 barrels of oil per day, we have now slipped to 120,000 bpd,” Mc Guire said. Mc Guire also said that while oil production was on the decline, downstream energy plants were multiplying in the Point Lisas Industrial estate.