Petrotrin refinery shut down

[teems1]

Interested to know the breakdown of salaries at Petrotrin.

If senior operators get 21-25 and all the smaller workers are getting less than that(the majority of the workforce?) then how many are getting way more than that to raise the average salary to 45k/month?

Is the plan to completely trim the fat and get rid of the ones making substantially more?

This is something the union has been suggesting for a long time - That the refinery and field workers are not the problem. So if they came out and said this is the plan I'm sure the union would be on board.

The refinery can surely be made profitable if the excess is cut. Closing the refinery appears to be a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

1) Get rid of all the useless and overstaffed departments and top heavy management.

2) Get rid of overtime.

3) Cut salaries/benefits if needed.

4) Cut temp and contract workers. You have thousands of permanent employees but still depend on outside assistance? It's either a small permanent staff with lots of outsourcing, or a large permanent staff with little outsourcing. You can't have both.

5) Go after wasted monies. The 850m and 950m USD can't have disappeared into thin air. There must have been service level agreements (SLA) which were violated. Everyone is claiming Malcolm Jones and Manning, but their bank accounts do not have 1.9b USD in it. Somewhere along the line SLAs was broken and money could be retrieved.

6) Secure the areas. Once people realized they are losing their jobs, they will start to sabotage/steal. This would never happen in places like BPTT/BHP etc, why does it keep happening in Petrotrin.

7) Disband OWTU. They are able to shut down the country to get higher salaries and protect poor workers. However they roll over when management makes poor decisions. Why didn't they shut down the country to get rid of the poor managers and stem the damage when the WGTL, USLD, admin building projects were clearly failing?

Set a hard deadline date. Do steps 1-7 by December 31st. If they are unable to post 2 quarters profit by June 2019, they are beyond help and need to close.

[Joshie23]

Measures putting into place to raise fuel prices. Good reason to justify it..
1% smiling all now..

Fuel prices were raised every budget for the last 3 years iirc, and petrotrin was in operation..... so what's your point?

To be fair..the fuel prices weren't raised, the subsidy was reduced. Penny for your thoughts, since you seem to be one of the few concerned about future fuel prices and rightfully so. Do you think with the closure of the only provider of fuel for the country, that the Government will keep the subsidy or even go as far as to reintroduce it at levels they reduced it from, to buffer against whatever market prices are?

[sMASH]

why should they?
the higher the cost of fuel, is the less purchasing power u will have as everything will go up.
the less u are able to afford things, the more time u will have to exert to work to try to afford things.
the more time u have to focus on work, is the less time u will have to focus on ethereal things like 'government spending', and 'administration corruption'.

and then u would be soo afraid to loose ur income, that u will fear to speak out against injustice in the society or the government.

the world is trending back into a feudal society, where we dont really live to live, but live to work for the new kings, which are the 1%, who divest some power and lower management to the new lords and dukes, the presidents and governors.

u dont live in a republic, u live in sabgaland, and if u dont pay ur tribute, they will take back their land and jail ur serf ass.

[nervewrecker]

Ot was paid because management refused to hire. The refinery cannot shut down so they were paid ot. It was all orchestrated. HR got a memo to cease all hiring.

Men who ranting that their salary high. Why not do something to earn a portion of the salary in society. Provide a service, open a business. Car wash, food (they have to eat), yard man (lawn cutting, pressure washing) etc. But nah, cut lawn, sell food, nah man, ollor mad oh wah? Until you find out hommuh the brushcutter and yard men making. Then ollor bawl tax dem!
Easy to cyak and wait for handout, working is too hard.

[nervewrecker]

Easy to be a keyboard warrior instead of service the industry.
Had a young lady I dated about 1998 or so. She used to come home and help mom prepare some pastries and sell in a glass case home..
Years later she got married and left the town. Little sister took over.
She start to rent a place and sell some of it. Then expand and sell fruits, papers, stationary etc.
Then she open a next branch up the road selling breakfast and lunch.
Petrotrin people patronise on their way to work because she opens early. Some come back and buy lunch.
Some buy food in the evening in thier way home.
Junior sec girl with ambition.

Meanwhile keyboard warriors in here on cepep and clerk 1 / 2 salary ranting waiting for governemt to give them something.

The more they make, the more they spend.
Like she buy car and renovating the lil house..
What is allyuh excuse?

[Dizzy28]

why should they?
the higher the cost of fuel, is the less purchasing power u will have as everything will go up.
the less u are able to afford things, the more time u will have to exert to work to try to afford things.
the more time u have to focus on work, is the less time u will have to focus on ethereal things like 'government spending', and 'administration corruption'.

and then u would be soo afraid to loose ur income, that u will fear to speak out against injustice in the society or the government.

the world is trending back into a feudal society, where we dont really live to live, but live to work for the new kings, which are the 1%, who divest some power and lower management to the new lords and dukes, the presidents and governors.

u dont live in a republic, u live in sabgaland, and if u dont pay ur tribute, they will take back their land and jail ur serf ass.

I am reading this and the first thing comes to mind is Alex Jones. The level of conspiracy theorism here is astounding.

[ADONI]

^^Dizzy on NOS just so?!

[nervewrecker]

why should they?
the higher the cost of fuel, is the less purchasing power u will have as everything will go up.
the less u are able to afford things, the more time u will have to exert to work to try to afford things.
the more time u have to focus on work, is the less time u will have to focus on ethereal things like 'government spending', and 'administration corruption'.

and then u would be soo afraid to loose ur income, that u will fear to speak out against injustice in the society or the government.

the world is trending back into a feudal society, where we dont really live to live, but live to work for the new kings, which are the 1%, who divest some power and lower management to the new lords and dukes, the presidents and governors.

u dont live in a republic, u live in sabgaland, and if u dont pay ur tribute, they will take back their land and jail ur serf ass.

I am reading this and the first thing comes to mind is Alex Jones. The level of conspiracy theorism here is astounding.

Alex

I eh saying nothing. Wait for him to read it..

[sMASH]

just remember that nazi germany was less than 100 years ago.

[Slartibartfast]

why should they?
the higher the cost of fuel, is the less purchasing power u will have as everything will go up.
the less u are able to afford things, the more time u will have to exert to work to try to afford things.
the more time u have to focus on work, is the less time u will have to focus on ethereal things like 'government spending', and 'administration corruption'.

and then u would be soo afraid to loose ur income, that u will fear to speak out against injustice in the society or the government.

the world is trending back into a feudal society, where we dont really live to live, but live to work for the new kings, which are the 1%, who divest some power and lower management to the new lords and dukes, the presidents and governors.

u dont live in a republic, u live in sabgaland, and if u dont pay ur tribute, they will take back their land and jail ur serf ass.

I am reading this and the first thing comes to mind is Alex Jones. The level of conspiracy theorism here is astounding.

Lol what? This is your idea of a conspiracy theory? Bless your sweet little heart you simple child.

His line of reasoning only implies that politicians and the business owners in charge of them will not do anything to stop the power from shifting further into their favour which I guess is based on the history that this is all they have ever done. What sMASH says makes sense. The only problem is that it seems "out there" because the way he worded it makes it sound like a purposeful conspiracy when it is most likely just them doing what they have to do to look out for themselves and having no reasons to look out for anyone else.

I look forward to a response with more to it that "lol.. anyone else Alex Jones... amrite"

[Miktay]

why should they?
the higher the cost of fuel, is the less purchasing power u will have as everything will go up.
the less u are able to afford things, the more time u will have to exert to work to try to afford things.
the more time u have to focus on work, is the less time u will have to focus on ethereal things like 'government spending', and 'administration corruption'.

and then u would be soo afraid to loose ur income, that u will fear to speak out against injustice in the society or the government.

the world is trending back into a feudal society, where we dont really live to live, but live to work for the new kings, which are the 1%, who divest some power and lower management to the new lords and dukes, the presidents and governors.

u dont live in a republic, u live in sabgaland, and if u dont pay ur tribute, they will take back their land and jail ur serf ass.

I am reading this and the first thing comes to mind is Alex Jones. The level of conspiracy theorism here is astounding.

Lol what? This is your idea of a conspiracy theory? Bless your sweet little heart you simple child.

His line of reasoning only implies that politicians and the business owners in charge of them will not do anything to stop the power from shifting further into their favour which I guess is based on the history that this is all they have ever done. What sMASH says makes sense. The only problem is that it seems "out there" because the way he worded it makes it sound like a purposeful conspiracy when it is most likely just them doing what they have to do to look out for themselves and having no reasons to look out for anyone else.

I look forward to a response with more to it that "lol.. anyone else Alex Jones... amrite"

Thats no conspiracy.

Thaz just the way the world works.

[Slartibartfast]

Thats no conspiracy.

Thaz just the way the world works.

My thoughts exactly. You have to have a serious lack of imagination if that is what passes for a conspiracy to you. At least tell me something "out there" like the moon landing was fake, or Rowley is a lizard or kamla never got drunk.

[sMASH]

BTW, orwellian sounds more sophisticated than Alex Jones

[airuma]

A little advise to expetrotrin workers, when you informed the union of the price you assigned to your life by way of striking mostly for an increase while still working under unfavorable conditions, the union treated you with the respect you deserve i.e. very little. Hence the reason they took a $15 million payment 3 years in advance to put on a convincing puppet show...... and you cannot blame them because you informed them that money was more important than your life!

[eurotuner]

Where these ppl got no traffic? Sigh wish I was living there.

[ProtonPowder]

Where these ppl got no traffic? Sigh wish I was living there.

Sando was pretty nice and clear this morning, but sometimes on a regular school term friday you get lucky

[Dizzy28]

Where these ppl got no traffic? Sigh wish I was living there.

PoS was same traffic morning and evening. Guess the no traffic was a south thing

[neilsingh100]

Management: Petrotrin operations not affected by high absenteeism
http://www.cnc3.co.tt/press-release/management-petrotrin-operations-not-affected-high-absenteeism

Union might want to rethink their strategy since the public will ask if Petrotrin can operate without 90% of it employees clearly the claims by the government that company is overstaffed is true.

[sMASH]

http://www.cnc3.co.tt/press-release/hun ... n-compound

Hundreds of barrels of catalyst now being stored inside Petrotrin compound
Date:
Friday, September 7, 2018 - 19:30

Energy Minister Franklyn Khan says there is nothing sinister about the secretive storage of hundreds of barrels of catalysts inside Petrotrin's compound, which are needed to start up petrochemical processing units in the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery.

Photographs of the catalysts were obtained exclusively by the T&T Guardian and were stored under an unoccupied, overgrown, multi-story structure inside the Petrotrin compound at Pointe-a-Pierre.

A source who requested anonymity said the catalysts were brought last week in three dozen 40-foot containers and overnight it was secretly stashed in barrels inside the building. During the petroleum refinery process, heavy oil is passed through metal chambers (called catalytic crackers or cat crackers).

This occurs under pressure and in high temperature in the presence of catalysts such as alumina, silica, or zeolites.

The source said the catalyst is needed for Petrotrin's Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit, the Hydro Treating Unit, and the Continuous Catalyst Regeneration (CCR) unit.

"If the refinery was being decommissioned, why is such a vast amount of catalysts brought in? Is there a plan to keep the catalysts ready so when they sell the refinery, it would be easier to get it started again," the source questioned.

Asked to comment yesterday, Energy Minister Franklyn Khan said, "There is nothing suspicious about that. Obviously, they will have stocks of catalysts and lots of other products that are inputs of the refinery process but all that is operational."

Asked whether temporary and casual workers will also get a financial settlement, Khan said this has to be worked out.

"All the details of the packages to be offered are being worked out between the Board and the Oilfield Workers Trade Union because the union has to sanction the termination benefits. I don't want to speak on that yet, the Board and union will be working it out," Khan said.

Asked what will happen to the regional markets and whether T&T will still be able to supply regional territories, Khan said, "There are contracts to supply Caricom markets and extra-regional markets. The only difference now is their stock of products will not be coming from a refinery which we own and manage. Your stock from a marketing and terminalling point of view, will be imported for redistribution. There is no need to cease those contracts because you are a terminaling facility. You are now a trader because like in any business the money is in trading."

He said the government will still have the exploration and production operations as well as marketing. "The only thing we did was get out of the uneconomic part of the value chain," Khan said. He said Petrotrin has tremendous storage capacity, opportunities for bunkering.

Asked about the impact of the OWTU's national shutdown on Petrotrin, Khan said, " There is a high level of absenteeism. I have not gotten a full report as yet but everything is operational as we speak both in the refinery, exploration, and production as well as the administration.

On Thursday the Guardian sent an email asking for an explanation as to what was contained in the barrels.

A Petrotrin official promised to respond shortly but up to press time, there was no response.

- by Radhica De Silva

[gastly369]

Hummmmmmmmm

[vaiostation]

Probably they pre purchased the catalyst long before the decision was taken to terminate refinery Operations.
So now they just storing it, wherever they got space?

[sMASH]

Collected it last week....
Expected a turn around..
... Well it coming... They calling it a 'decommissioning'

[alfa]

Probably they pre purchased the catalyst long before the decision was taken to terminate refinery Operations.
So now they just storing it, wherever they got space?

If it was a routine purchase there would have a designated place for it. This sounds fishy

[nervewrecker]

Management: Petrotrin operations not affected by high absenteeism
http://www.cnc3.co.tt/press-release/management-petrotrin-operations-not-affected-high-absenteeism

Union might want to rethink their strategy since the public will ask if Petrotrin can operate without 90% of it employees clearly the claims by the government that company is overstaffed is true.

Place has been on a go slow since the announcement. No work reported, diligent workers looking for work and doing it to keep the field running.
Nobody showed up today..

[hydroep]

Apart from the refinery workers (90% absenteeism) the only other major "success" would have been Teachers (approx. 50%). That's more than I thought they would've gotten TBH.

As expected, Public Servants like to cyak but they 'fraid too bad. Watson knew what was up, dais why he fly out...

[jhonnieblue]

Probably they pre purchased the catalyst long before the decision was taken to terminate refinery Operations.
So now they just storing it, wherever they got space?

If it was a routine purchase there would have a designated place for it. This sounds fishy

Not really, in the estate when you have upcoming TAR we have catalyst all over the place. In containers, in product warehouse etc. Full charge replacement you just store wherever is dry and the lead time to order isnt short so that was prob ordered way in advance for a planned TAR

[sMASH]

I want to know, when wis the next planned tar?

[ProtonPowder]

Apart from the refinery workers (90% absenteeism) the only other major "success" would have been Teachers (approx. 50%). That's more than I thought they would've gotten TBH.

As expected, Public Servants like to cyak but they 'fraid too bad. Watson knew what was up, dais why he fly out...

Most new public servants are temporary or contracted and not unionised, wonder how it would fare for them. Otherwise, people know work still goes on as usual.

[gastly369]

https://newsday.co.tt/2018/09/07/carico ... n-trouble/

[bess almera]

Did Watson board a plane yesterday despite calling in ATC to rest and reflect? Or did he board the plane Thursday before planned day of R&R?