Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (trading as Petrotrin) was a state-owned oil company in Trinidad and Tobago. Its principal activities were the exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons in addition to the manufacturing and marketing of petroleum products.
As a state enterprise, Petrotrin was under the direct control of the Minister of Finance acting as the Corporation Sole, and the Ministry of Energy as the line ministry that provides specialized technical analyses and statutory approvals for the company's operations.
History
The company was established in 1993 by the merger of Trintopec and Trintoc, two state-owned oil companies. A third company, Trinmar Ltd was merged into the company in 2000. Trintoc was formed from the assets of Shell Trinidad Ltd in 1974 and Texaco in 1985. Trintopec was formed in 1985 when the government purchased the interests of Trinidad Tesoro, a joint venture between the government and Tesoro Oil Company, which was created to purchase the assets of British Petroleum (BP) in 1969. Trinmar was formed when the government purchased the offshore exploration assets of Trinidad Northern Areas Limited (TNA) which was formed by the then "Big Three": British Petroleum, Texaco and Shell.
These companies were formed from a suite of earlier companies including Trinidad Oilfields Limited (TOL), United British Oilfields of Trinidad (UBOT), Trinidad Leaseholds Limited (TLL), Trinidad Petroleum Development Co (TPD), Apex Trinidad Oilfields (APEX/ATO) and Kern Trinidad Oilfields (KTO), which had themselves been formed to first able commercialize oil finds in Trinidad in the early twentieth century.
Petrotrin operated in land and marine acreage across southern Trinidad. In some instances, the company engaged in joint ventures, lease operator-ships, farm-outs and incremental production services contracts to support its exploration and production activities. In 2004, Petrotrin was granted an automatic stake in all exploration and production arrangements with foreign companies in Trinidad and Tobago.
In 2018, 90% of Petrotrin's sales to the local market were fuel – 46% from gasoline, 37% from diesel, 11% from jet fuel and 5% from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or cooking gas). Petrotrin exported to the Caricom market with the main countries being Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana.
Refining
In the early 1900s, there were several small refineries operating in Trinidad, including plants in Santa Flora (TPD 1930 – ?) and Brighton (UBOT 1911–1978). These were all closed over time as they became non-viable either because of aging technology or supply and cost challenges. The Point Fortin Refinery built in 1912 that once refined Venezuelan crude was the last to be shut down in 1994 due to cost challenges after the economic recession of the 1980s to make way for Atlantic LNG as Trinidad and Tobago shifted its emphasis from oil to natural gas.
Petrotrin operated Trinidad and Tobago's single petroleum refinery, located at Pointe-à-Pierre, just north of the city of San Fernando, popularly known as the Pointe-a-Pierre Refinery. The refinery produced liquid petroleum gases, unleaded motor gasoline, avjet/kerosene, diesel/heating oil, fuel oil and aviation gasoline among other products. It has driven the country's economy and placed the country in the hydrocarbon sector.
In 1913, former sugar estates in the area was purchased for plans to build a refinery by Trinidad Leaseholds Ltd, a British subsidiary of Central Mining Company headquartered in the United Kingdom. In 1917, the refinery was built and began production at 75,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). Its first upgrade occurred in 1928 with the construction of the No 3 and 4 Topping plants. During World War II the refinery was identified as an asset to be "protected at all cost" as a major supplier of aircraft fuel for the Allied forces. By 1940, the refinery went through another expansion, a top secret project known as Project 1234 and by May 1942, the first Catalytic Cracking Unit came on stream where refining capacity in Trinidad and Tobago was recorded at 28.5 million barrels per year. At the end of World War II, the refinery was recognized as the largest in the British empire.