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It further stated that they had signed the con- said. “CFE’s meritless claims regarding White-
tracts disclosing their own ties to and previous Water follow explicit threats made by CFE
dealings with WhiteWater. officials to renegotiate the terms of legitimate,
As a result of these lapses, CFE is now sad- market-based contracts.”
dled with the gas contracts that caused it to CFE has also pushed the Mexican govern-
incur hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, ment to take action against Turrent and Gutier-
the petition said. Under one of its agreements rez on corruption charges and has asked the US
with WhiteWater, it noted, the power provider federal court system to secure more information
routinely receives 1.5bn cubic feet (42.48mn about the former CFEi executives’ long-stand-
cubic metres) per day of gas, more than it can ing ties with Matthew Calhoun, the founder of
use, and must resell at a loss. Another long-term WhiteWater. Additionally, it has drawn atten-
agreement concerning pipelines was actually tion to the US company’s relatively recent cre-
unnecessary and was actually meant to serve as ation and lack of experience.
a covert means of securing financing for White- WhiteWater, for its part, has responded by
Water, it added. pointing out CFE’s violation of its contracts for
Under the three contracts in question, the non-payment. ™
petition said, CFEi must pay WhiteWater
“enormous sums for unneeded and overpriced
natural gas and unnecessary pipeline costs.” The
company therefore asked the court to award at
least $1mn in damages for the actions taken by
Turrent and Gutierrez.
As of press time, the former executives had
not responded to the suit, either directly or
through their US lawyers.
WhiteWater, for its part, has denied CFEi’s
claims. In a statement issued last week, it argued
that the CFE subsidiary had initiated the lawsuit
as part of an ongoing effort to force renegotia-
tion of the gas deals.
“While this lawsuit is not directed at White-
Water, it is clearly part of an ongoing intimi-
dation campaign from a Mexican state-owned
enterprise in response to arbitration proceed-
ings initiated by WhiteWater,” the statement CFEi has complained of having to pay “unnecessary pipeline costs” (Images: CFEi)

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
NGC in domestic gas supply deal with bpTT

NATIONAL Gas Co. of Trinidad and Tobago between the parties began several months ago,
Ltd (NGC) announced that it had finalised a with both sides aiming for a deal that would fuel
“milestone” gas supply agreement with BP Trin- investments in the upstream sector. Loquan
idad and Tobago (bpTT), a subsidiary of BP declared that both NGC and bpTT remained
(UK), on September 23. committed to the success of Trinidad and Toba-
The deal, which serves to renew an exist- go’s energy industry throughout the negotia-
ing contract under which bpTT supplies gas tions. (BP has come under fire in some quarters
to NGC’s domestic customers, was signed by in Port of Spain for the underperformance of
the NGC’s president Mark Loquan and bpTT’s some of its offshore projects, which played a role
president Claire Fitzpatrick at Hyatt Regency in the long-term closure of the Atlantic LNG
last Friday. The details of the agreement have plant’s first production train.)
not been disclosed, but NGC has described it Fitzpatrick agreed with Loquan’s sentiment,
as a means of securing the country’s gas supply reiterating the notion that the contract will play
going forward. an influential role in driving upstream invest-
bpTT has been the largest supplier of gas ment decisions and adding that it will play a role
to Trinidad and Tobago’s domestic market for in boosting the sustainability of the country’s
some time. As a result, the renewal of the deal domestic petrochemical industry.
between NGC and the BP subsidiary should Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister
allow the country to secure a significant volume of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young
of gas in the coming years. said he viewed the deal as a crucial milestone in
According to Loquan, contract negotiations securing the nation’s energy future.

Week 39 28•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7