By Darcel Choy Sunday, September 13 2009

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The Nissan Bluebird Sylphy caught the attention of this couple yesterday during Nissan's 40th anniversary celebrations at Neal and Massy Automotive, L...

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Former independent senator and economist Mary King believes that the Government is in denial with regards to the state of the country’s natural gas reserves.

In a presentation yesterday at a symposium of the economics of Alutrint at St Mary’s College, Port-of-Spain, King pointed out that bpTT, one of the leading oil and gas production companies in the country, drilled the deepest dry hole in the country’s history.

“Trinmar drilling contractor has just quit after drilling no oil and no gas. The statistics would show you that even the probable and the possible reserves have been stationary for over the last ten years and are proven to be declining; we are probably at the peak gallon,” she said.

King explained that the Government is obviously hoping and praying that candidates are lining up to drill new exploration wells if they would offer them adequate concessions.

“We started off with looking at three smelters, now we have one and we are looking for natural gas. Government has lost its Alutrint partner and appears to be going alone again.

“The energy policy of the Government seems to be to exploit our natural resources as fast as possible, save some of the rest when we have a boom and spend the rest, and now we are in a bust and Government is running a deficit budget hoping and praying that prices would soon increase again,” King said.

She shared a few economic facts stating that Trinidad and Tobago today is a natural gas economy with some oil.

“The energy sector provides 50 percent of our Gross Development Product, and it provides 85 percent of our foreign exchange earning, that is a critical fact,” she said.

King believes the establishment of smelters would increase the speed with which we decrease our natural resources.

“If the Government would spend less, we would have savings. The way the Government is moving they are doing nothing to ensure sustainable development,” she said.