Opinion
- Editorial- Commentary
Express
Editorial :
Energy
info shortage feeding our fears
It is likely - to the point of being certain -
that the faith Prime Minister Patrick Manning has
in the energy future of Trinidad and Tobago would
be shared by the population at large if it had
access to all the information which he undoubtedly
has with respect to the present natural gas situation
and the plans to keep it flowing.
The piecemeal way in which what is perceived to
have been the essential conclusions of the Ryder
Scott audit report have been delivered has only
served to engender the doomsday scenarios that
the Government is now decrying.
How different it might have been had the Government
published the full report, perhaps with explanatory
notes, so that the population would have been able
to put into perspective the narrow conclusion that
at the present rate of production, the country's
gas flow will dry up in or around 2019.
That perspective, of course, would have had to
have been informed by structured information about
the way the Government intended to proceed with
respect to stimulating the energised exploration
that, given both the geological history as well
as the lay of the land, could reasonably be expected
to unearth more of the reserves on which this country's
economy floats.
Now it is true that some of that information, particularly
with respect to changing petroleum policy - a
review of the existing petro-tax regime, for
example - has been revealed in bits and pieces,
but it seems to us that what was called for was
a full and coherent exposition, the business
of oil and gas being, after all, the people's
business.
It is also true, however, that that has not been
the traditional political way of doing things,
with our politicians in power preferring to make
singled-out statements from on high rather than
taking the population into their confidence and
giving citizens the full truth of whatever is their
particular condition.
The trouble with such an approach, however, is
that it leaves room both for unwitting misinformation
and deliberate mischief, necessitating the need
for damage control by the Government itself and,
in the instant case, rushed reassurances from the
investing companies which find it incumbent upon
themselves to provide the hard billion-dollar investment
data upon which the prime ministerial faith, not
unjustifiably, happens to be founded.
The cynics among us - and there happen to be many
- may well sneer that scenarios such as these are
programmed for effect, the real deal being the
opportunity provided for national grandstanding
in the course of, say, a Budget presentation.
The
Trinidad Express is
one of the most important newspapers in
Trinidad.
Petroleumworld not necessarily share these
views.Petroleumworld
not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
Note: This article was first publish in Trinidad
Express, August 15, 2007 .
Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest
of our readers.
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08/18/07
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