Enough
stock at Petrotrin
Ariti
Jankie
South
Bureau
Trinidad
Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworld.com
07 30 06
As the labour situation worsened at oil company
Petrotrin, with more of its operations coming to
a standstill, the State firm assured there was sufficient
stock at its Pointe-a-Pierre refinery to supply
the market for "the next three to four weeks".
The company's Santa Flora field
and marine operations, through the Trinmar subsidiary,
at Point Fortin were hit yesterday by low worker
turnout that brought the operations to a standstill.
The refinery also remained shut
for the second consecutive day as hundreds of workers
once more did not show up for duty.
The refinery produces gasoline,
diesel, aviation fuel, sulphur, bitumen and liquid
petroleum gas (LPG) for local and foreign markets.
Petrotrin's corporate communications
manager Arnold Corneal said: "There is no need
to panic."
He said that before stocks were
depleted, contingency measures would be applied
to continue a market supply of products.
Corneal said that similar protests
recently caused artificial fuel shortages and panic
buying at gas stations several times this year.
He said that the shortage was a result of a change
in the equilibrium of distribution. The workers,
some 5,000, through their union, the Oilfields Workers'
Trade Union and Petrotrin have been locked in wage
negotiations for several months.
The
union is demanding a 35 per cent pay increase over
three years. The company has offered ten per cent
and a two per cent annual lump-sum payment.
Trinidad Express
Wednesday, July 26th 2006
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