'We've not done badly'- Enill
PORT SPAIN
Trinidad & Tobago Express
Petroleumworldtt.com
12 31 08
Trinidad and Tobago, which earns most of its revenue from Liquified Natural Gas and oil exports, was able to ride the economic downturn waves of 2008 and has "not done badly at all" in terms of the dramatic fall in the price of both commodities since August, says Energy Minister Conrad Enill.
In an interview with the Express over the weekend, Enill said this country will in fact close off 2008 in a much better position than many might have first thought when oil prices plunged from a record high of US$147.21 per barrel on July 11 to a four-year record low average of US$40.98 per barrel on December 11.
Enill said the key factor in the equation was the price of the nation's number one revenue earner, LNG, and not the price of oil.
"Prices (for LNG) have come down yes but they are staying within where we expect it to be, where we may not be making the same amount of profits but we are not losing money," Enill told the Express in a telephone interview.
Natural gas traded on Christmas Eve at just under US$6 per million British thermal units (mmtbu), while the average global oil price was US$38 per barrel.
Enill noted that even with the lower oil prices, this country, which imports oil for refining, has benefitted from a lower expenditure on the gasoline and diesel subsidy. He said this is because it is costing less to import crude oil for refining.
"We have not done badly at all ... even if we look at $100 million (in oil losses), it is still going to be $100 million one way, but we are also going to gain in terms of expenditure because it will be less expenditure. If you net that off, we will not be as bad as some other economies," Enill said.
The Government made $5.3 billion in cutbacks in the 2008/2009 Budget to cater for an equivalent amount in anticipated revenue shortfall based on a revised oil price of US$55 per barrel and US$3.25 and US$3.50 per mmtbu for natural gas, as opposed to the original US$70 per barrel for oil and US$4 mmtbu for gas.
Story by Juhel Browne from Trinidad & Tobago Express
-jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com
Trinidad & Tobago Express
Monday, December 29th 2008
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