Dear Editor,
THE most conservative estimate is that the use of fossil fuel will continue well into the next 50 years.

It means therefore refined products from crude petroleum such as gasoline, ultra low sulphur diesel, aviation jet fuel, bitumen and raw sulphur etc. will potentially still be a lucrative market for the next five decades and possibly more.

What is the present situation with regards to refining capacity in the Caribbean?
With the exception of the Staatstolie Refinery in Suriname that was expanded and modernised in 1995 to ISO 9001 standards with nearly zero carbon emissions, all the remaining refineries in the Caribbean were built during the first or second world wars. Most are closed due to the cost for them to lower their carbon emission pollution.

Trinidad and Aruba refineries are now used as storage terminals. Isla Refinery, built by Shell in Curacao in 1917, is facing serious environmental issues with high levels of carbon pollution. The Limetree Refinery in St Croix has again filed for bankruptcy and is facing lawsuits for polluting the drinking water as well, causing skin and lung disease to the inhabitants of the island due to its poor emission control.

Much cannot be said of the refineries in Venezuela and Cuba given the lack of data, but making a logical deduction from the state of their respective economies, you can safely conclude they would not be in any state-of-the-art condition.

To sum things up, in terms of fuel supply and security in the Caribbean region, our supply chain is pitifully inadequate with high carbon emissions. We depend mostly [on] the Gulf for the supply of refined petro- products and all the refineries that are in the panhandle states around the Gulf are high carbon emitters due to their age. With the US ratcheting up stricter emission controls under the present administration, a lot of these refineries will go under. This will in the near future create a shortage of refining capacity in the Americas as a whole.

The smart thing to do therefore is to invest in a joint venture with Suriname to build and operate a 200,000 barrels refinery with close to zero carbon emissions in proximity to the proposed deep water harbour. Both, us and Suriname, are producing a similar type of light sweet crude which will result in less harmful carbon emissions during refining and with the most technologically modern environmental treatment plants now available, the emissions gases will almost be harmless.

Suriname has personnel who have gained a lot of expertise in refinery construction and operation which they can bring to the partnership.

A 200,000 barrels refinery would normally take 4-5 years to be built which will place us in an ideal position as a very low carbon emitter in the global drive to manage climate change.

Viewed from all angles, a joint venture 200, 000 barrels refinery with Suriname will be the smart thing to do.

Yours sincerely,
Reggie Bhagwandin