Touchstone Exploration Share Discussion Threads

[crooky1967] 28/8/2018 18:41

Now that refinery is closing I would imagine all our oil will need to be exported. Anyone see any issues with this?

[dunderheed] 27/8/2018 23:57

MT really lol 're Austin Allegro. I didn't know that fact but can remember when they were the new car to have lol!
I'll drop you a private message tomorrow or next day so please look out for it. Cheers dunders.

[mount teide] 27/8/2018 23:35

C1967 - well overdue - its probably the only State oil company in the world that is a consumer of rather than a contributor to its Nations foreign earnings!

Rumours that Shell may be involved in some form of take over of the heavily loss making oil refinery at Point Fortin.

In a small economy like T&T its nonsense that precious tax resources are being used to subsidise the operation of a loss making national oil company which has run up an eye-watering level of debt it has little hope of ever paying back.

Petrotrin is reminiscent of many state owned industries in the UK in the 1960's and 70's like British Leyland - reliant on huge taxpayer bailouts to keep the lights on - and whose brilliant 'designers' paid back UK taxpayers generosity by manufacturing the first car in the world with a lower wind coefficient going Backwards than Forwards! - the absolutely appalling Austin Allegro.

[crooky1967] 27/8/2018 18:49

Seems to be a bit of news floating around that Petrotrin is being sold or restructured.

[mount teide] 27/8/2018 14:04

Dunderhead - of course.

[dunderheed] 27/8/2018 13:25

MT - thanks mate, can I send you personal message?

[mount teide] 27/8/2018 12:53

Dunderhead - no - unless you wish to live there year round its just not cost effective to own under the current tax rules.

The taxes and service charges per year on a £300k - £400k property are roughly equal to what it costs to rent that same property for 4 months in the 'winter'(similar to our summer weather this year).

We have holidayed there nearly 30 times - the 'eternal spring' tropical climate across the Canary Islands is as close to perfection as its possible to get; year round sunshine and warm 20-28 centigrade temps(thanks to the influence of the trade winds and Atlantic Ocean) with very low humidity - it draws us back year after year in the winter.

We prefer Tenerife because it has one of the great natural wonders of the world - Mount Teide National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If you like hiking/ walking nature trails or off road biking the warm sunshine and dry, clear crisp air and spectacular scenery of Teide National Park in 'winter' above the 4,000ft level North of Vilaflor is an incredible place to visit.

Teide National Park in 'winter' is probably the only place in the world where there is more chance of seeing a top pro road race cyclist than someone on holiday - most of the elite pro teams like SKY use Teide's brutal upper slopes for their winter training. Its 23 miles from the coast-road to the lower cable car station at 6,500ft and not one metre is flat - i've proved it by taking a car out of gear at the cable car station and coasting for over 25 minutes back down to the coast road.

Running the London Marathon in 3hrs 55 minutes was like a walk in the park compared to the 3hrs and 57 minutes of physical pain and mental torture i experienced riding up Mount Teide. The speed the pro cyclists come by on those upper slopes has to be seen to be believed.

[dunderheed] 27/8/2018 11:02

MT have you got any ppty on Tenerife? (etc.)

[mount teide] 27/8/2018 10:26

Petrotrin to be privatised or merged with Shell?

T&T Govenment unwilling to kick the can down the road any longer at the heavily loss making state run Petrotrin - Action to be taken by 2nd September.

Incredibly, salaries now account for more than 50% of Petrotrin's operating cost and T&T is probably the only Nation in the world where the State Oil company is a net user of foreign exchange!

Situation at Petrotrin suggest it's likely to lead to some great opportunities for T&T's other O&G industry operators to exploit.


A black hole—Khan - T&T Guardian





Energy Minister Franklin Khan is sending a strong warning that Petrotrin’s current state of affairs has the ability to “bankrupt” the country, as he yesterday described the state oil company as coming to what is referred to in astrophysics as a “black hole.”

Khan’s stark warning ahead of tomorrow’s meeting between Petrotrin and the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union on the restructuring of the company, came at a news conference at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, as he described Petrotrin’s future as “the most fundamental issue the country faces in terms of our economic fortunes or lack thereof”.

“If Petrotrin is not handled properly, it could bankrupt this country. It is as serious as that,” Khan said.

Asked to explain this statement further, Khan said, “Once Petrotrin cannot face its bankers and put a plan in place to repay its debt the obvious corollary is that they will need a Government guarantee, which will throw all our indicators way off course, our debt to equity all these things. And then our repayment schedule, our debt servicing. It is unimaginable the dire consequences if not managed properly,” Khan said.

Khan urged citizens to support the Government in its attempt to bring stability and long-term viability to Petrotrin. He said while successive administrations, “both PNM and UNC, have kicked the can down the road” with respect to Petrotrin, it just could not continue as the company has serious systemic, structural and operational issues which must be dealt with.

He explained that Petrotrin “has a massive debt profile in excess of TT$13 billion and we all know about the famous bullet US$850 million payment due in November 2019.” He said if something is not done “Petrotrin and or the Government will have to find a cheque of US$850M to pay to the bondholders.”

“As we speak, Petrotrin owes the state $3.5 billion in outstanding taxes and royalty, that is the people’s money which is being consumed by a company to satisfy whatever inefficiencies that operate in the company,” Khan said, noting the company is also saddled with high operating costs.

He said it costs an average of between US$30 to US$40 for the company to lift a barrel of oil and when oil prices are US$40 it is obviously uneconomic. The company is also generating no working capital to reinvest because it is operating at a loss. He said Petrotrin’s local crude production is a mere 40,000 barrels per day but the refinery has a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day.

Saying this means in order to keep the refinery going the company has to import 110,000 barrels per day, Khan said, “What compounds this matter is that for every barrel of crude refined the company loses US two dollars and fifty cents to US three dollars per barrel, so you importing oil to lose money.”

But Khan explained that Petrotrin is a “net user of foreign exchange, so here you have your state oil company not bringing in any net foreign exchange, because the amount they are spending to import crude and lose money on the crude they import, it has made the refinery unprofitable.”

Khan also expressed concerned that salaries and wages account for 50 per cent of the company’s operating cost.

“For an oil company to be skewed so badly that in excess of 50 per cent of its operating cost is salaries and wages, something has to be fundamentally wrong,” he said.

Khan said Petrotrin was coming to what was called in astrophysics a black hole.

“That means an area of such intense gravity which if you come to it sucks you in and you cannot come out. Before we reach that stage we have to do something and something quickly.”

On Tuesday when the Petrotrin board and OWTU meet, Khan said it will be the first time “we will lay bare what our plans are, what consequences will follow and the way forward for Petrotrin.” Khan urged all parties to treat the matter with maturity, pragmatism, and a certain level of patriotism, because of the fundamental national consequences. He said as the numbers reveal themselves the situation will become clear.

He said after Tuesday’s meeting between the union and Petrotrin Prime Minister Dr Keith will address the nation on the future of Petrotrin on September 2.

Quizzed on options Government could look at going forward, Khan refused to say whether privatisation or a merger with Shell could be involved

[walter walcarpets] 24/8/2018 16:11

Mr Baay won't be running to the market to RNS until rates have stabilised at 2000bopd and above.......he's far too shrewd and cautious to jump the gun IMO

[mr. t] 24/8/2018 15:57

If the four wells come online in the two week timescale Paul Baay said 10 days ago, then TXP should see 2,000 boed starting from the beginning of next week.

[mount teide] 24/8/2018 15:15

Brent rebounding strongly this week currently up a further 1.86% today to $76.52.

[mount teide] 23/8/2018 17:21

O/T - If like two equity investor friends and i you place a very high investment case weighting on the quality of the management/their previous track record in the sector and the assets - then Jadestone Energy (JSE) which listed on AIM this month could be well worth a look - (Many thanks to Zengas for the heads up).

Started a new JSE thread with charts and links to a recent O&G Conference presentation by the CEO and company website which has a new company presentation.

AIMHO/DYOR

[zengas] 23/8/2018 17:09

It's the sofa that keeps on giving.

[deltrotter] 23/8/2018 16:03

someone has been buying a lot of stock over the last four days that hasnt been reported yet imo.

[che7win] 23/8/2018 15:29

20p on the offer now

[novicetrade68] 23/8/2018 13:50

19.411p is what they're asking now.

[captainfatcat] 23/8/2018 09:45

lol, I'll call you a taxi.

[spangle93] 23/8/2018 08:38

CFC - sorry for o/t
Remember your analogy of the pie & pint discussion versus the bulletin board bully. I think on UPL, we have the previously-speculated-upon equivalent of the "did you spill my pint", "you looking at my girl?" "what do you mean, it's not going to be £1 before Christmas, you shortin' it mate?" contributor. The thread moderator should be the publican "alright sonny, I think you've had enough for this evening, get yourself home now

[marvelman] 23/8/2018 08:30

My 20000 added this a.m.looks lonely

[brasso3] 22/8/2018 23:19

PB will not miss the opportunity to make a big RNS out of the 2000 BOPD milestone.

[novicetrade68] 22/8/2018 20:58

Well there is some news expected soon if the most recent interview with PB is to believed, perhaps our 250k buyer already had a sniff.

[captainfatcat] 22/8/2018 19:48

Looking good in Canada another leg up on the cards maybe