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The new GTL plant has a capacity of 2,400 bpd (Photo: NiQuan Energy)

NiQuan has been active in Trinidad and Tobago a ceremony attended by Keith Rowley, the prime
since 2016, when it arranged to acquire the phys- minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Rowley hailed
ical plant, property and equipment of World NiQuan’s efforts, saying: “This [GTL] plant is a
GTL Trinidad for $10mn plus $25mn worth of prime example of the successful development
non-convertible preference shares. It finalised of the country’s export potential of higher val-
the deal in 2018 under an agreement with the ue-added products, through the collaboration
state-owned Petrotrin refinery, the holder of of the private sector, the banking sector and the
World GTL Trinidad’s debentures. (Petrotrin is government.”
also in Point a Pierre.) NiQuan’s CEO Ainsley Gill, who also
NETL’s GTL plant is one of only five facilities attended the ceremony, said he expected the
in the world that uses the low-temperature Fis- project to have a positive environmental impact.
cher-Tropsch (LTFT) process to process natural “GTL represents clean energy – a bridge from a
gas into refined fuels. It is also the first unit of its dirty energy past to a cleaner energy future,” he
type in the Western Hemisphere. The company commented. “It’s a bridge that everyone wanted
secured its Fischer-Tropsch catalyst technology to build but, for many reasons, most of them
from Emerging Fuels Technology, a US-based have failed. With this plant, NiQuan Energy
provider of modular GTL solutions. has built the first bridge and there will be more,
The opening of the GTL plant was marked by many more.” ™

MSJ party’s leader blasts Port of

Spain on transfer pricing for LNG

DAVID Abdulah, the leader of Trinidad and Essential elements of a policy framework for TT
Tobago’s socialist Movement for Social Justice and Guyana,” came to print.
(MSJ) Party, has called on the government to “It is not new. The MSJ spoke of transfer of
respond to a new report alleging that transfer pricing by energy companies [such as] BP, Shell,
pricing for LNG caused Port of Spain to incur Repsol [and] BHP with respect to natural gas
$18bn in losses between 2010 and 2018. and LNG, but we were not taken seriously,” he
Responding to the publication of a report told reporters.
by the UN Economic Commission for Latin He criticised Port of Spain for not heeding
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Abdu- the party’s warnings, saying: “The fact is that
lah accused the government of doing nothing to this country has been ripped off by billions of
prevent this loss of revenue. dollars by the mechanism of transfer of pricing.
Speaking at an MSJ press conference, he said We have been [calling] on the government on
that his party had been aware of this problem many occasions to deal with transfer of pricing,
long before the report, entitled “Navigating but the ECLAC publishes a report and the state-
transfer pricing risk in the oil and gas sector: ment gets big headlines.”

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