PPGPL & NGC sign a new Gas Processing Agreement
“BALANCING DEVELOPMENT” EUGENE TIAH- PRESIDENT
NEW GPA SIGNING AGREEMENT –25/7/06
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. As stated earlier by our Chairman, Mr. Keith Awong, this ceremony tonight marks another significant milestone in the life of the Phoenix Park business; the signing of a new gas processing agreement with the NGC which supports the expansion of our gas processing and storage capacity to satisfy the growth in downstream demand for processed gas. This gas processing expansion represents the third of its kind for the Phoenix Park facility since the original plant was commissioned and started up in 1991.
You may recall that the original facility was established primarily for the purpose of extracting the heavy order hydrocarbons from the natural gas stream to provide the downstream users with a gas quality that was suitable for their processes. Out of that simple beginning the Phoenix Park business has transformed to what it is today to service the growing needs of the NGC for processed gas; to provide a similar processing service for Petrotrin’s Soldado and on-land gas supplies; to provide fractionation, storage and market services for the natural gas liquids from the Atlantic Trains 1, 2, 3 and 4 facilities and on the output side to supply just around 50% of the Caribbean LPG market needs.
With the completion of this latest expansion the total installed physical asset value relative to 1991 would have increased by over 300 % - another stark reminder of the Trinidad and Tobago success story in monetizing its natural gas resources. This transformation of the Phoenix Park business over the last 15 years has been done with a goal of creating a natural gas liquid hub which not only provides the opportunity for the maximization of the value of the natural gas liquids but creates the opportunity for the development of further downstream industries.
At this time you may be saying to yourselves that is all well and good but what else has Phoenix Park contributed to sustainable development other than providing a healthy dividend stream to its shareholders? Phoenix Park though much smaller than some of the majors that operate in the energy sector believe that it has held its own with regard to contributions toward sustainable development. Please permit me to highlight some of our contributions.
- Safety
Last August Phoenix Park recognized the milestone of achieving 13 years without an OSHA lost work day case. We believe that Phoenix Park over its history has been able to demonstrate to the local oil and gas sector in particular and industry throughout Trinidad and Tobago as a whole that world class results like this are achievable and in so doing have contributed to the establishment of national standards or benchmarks.
- People Development
Phoenix Park since inception has placed a strong emphasis on people development. In fact it is driven by one of our core values – Valuing All People. Today, Phoenix Park is proud of the development of its employees, all nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, who have attained the competencies to perform all the necessary functions of the business. In fact sometimes we think that we may have done too good a job when our employees are poached by other businesses. On occasion we have also seconded some of our employees to our shareholder ConocoPhillips not for training but to perform vital work when they had problems locating people within their own organization. We are also strongly committed to the national training initiatives and have a very active on the job training program. Since inception in 1991 we have every year accommodated students from JDTI, SFTI, and UWI and in more recent years from TTIT, MIC and NESC.
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Local Value Added
In addition to contribution to the national coffers by paying taxes and a 51% dividend stream that goes back to the NGC NGL of which National Enterprises Limited receives 20% , on our major expansion projects we have been able to achieve up to 30% local value added on capital expenditures. This is significant when one considers that close to 50% of the total capital is for materials that have to be imported. I might however caution that with the shortage of critical engineering and construction skills and the rising cost of these resources there are going to be significant challenges in attaining similar local content results.
- Public / Private Sector Service
Phoenix Park has and continues to support the efforts of public sector initiatives by providing management expertise to serve on Boards and Advisory Councils. In private sector we provide resources both financial and human for business initiatives that can benefit the entire business sector.
- Downstream Development
Phoenix Park is actively engaged in providing necessary inputs for the development of the following projects.
- West Lake Ethylene Project – By developing a cost efficient process to extract ethane from the gas stream which contributes to providing a cost advantaged feedstock and improves the chances of project viability.
- Petrotrin Alkylation Project- By providing a price competitive source of iso-butane
- Maelic Anhydride Project – By providing a price competitive source of normal butane.
- International promotion of the capabilities of a Trinidad and Tobago company.
By:
- Winning the Gas Processors Association Safety award in the international division for the seventh consecutive year.
- Winning the Du Pont Global Marketing Excellence award in 1997.
- Achieving a debt credit rating that is above the sovereign rating and on par with one of our international shareholders ConocoPhillips – Standards and Poors – A-, Moody’s A3 and most recently a CariCris- AAA and;
- Being a preferred regional supplier of LPG due to the high product quality and very high standard of customer service.
- Philanthropy
Phoenix Park has a very active Philanthropic Committee and throughout its 15 year life has made contributions in the areas of Health and Safety, Education, Preservation of the Environment, support to Registered Charities and Reactive Community Support. Our annual signature activity is a “ Gift to the Nation Program ” which is linked with the company’s safety performance. This Gift to the Nation Program is structured to provide a tangible benefit to a wide cross-section of the national community. Our gifts over the years have included:
1997 – Purchase of Vehicle for the Trinidad and Tobago Blood Bank
1998 – Joint Purchase: Building for Families in Action (Free Walk in Therapy and Counseling Centre)
1999 – Walk Alert Programme (Safety Programme: All Primary Schools in Trinidad and Tobago in conjunction with TT Automobile Association)
2000 – Environmental Awareness CD for Secondary Schools Trinidad and Tobago in conjunction with the Pointe –a – Pierre Wild Fowl Trust
2001- Blood Analyzer – St James Radio Therapy Centre
2002 – Lighting of the Rivulet Road
2003/2004 – Casa de Corazon – Funding and supervision of the construction of a Home for Abused Children in Sangre Grande
This brings us to our gift to the Nation for 2005 which forms part of this evening’s program: HOMES – (Housing Our Most Exposed Siblings) a partnership with Habitat for Humanity whereby Phoenix Park will provide funding and “ sweat equity” for the construction of houses for needy families in our fence line community. We are optimistic that through this effort we will be able to provide approximately 30 houses to individuals and families that otherwise would not be able to satisfy their housing needs. We are extremely excited about this project and hope that this initiative may also spur others to follow suit.
In summary the Phoenix Park business though relatively small when compared to other energy sector companies has in my view been able to balance its business success and priorities with addressing other broader development needs and in so doing has made a difference toward improving national development over its short 15 year life. In the years ahead we look forward to continuing and improving on past efforts.
In closing I would like to recognize the joint effort of the Phoenix Park and NGC commercial, technical and financial teams that worked many long hard hours in developing this expansion project and getting us to the position that we are at today and I would also like to thank the NGC for their continuing confidence in Phoenix Park’s capability to satisfy all of their gas processing needs.
Thank you and please enjoy the rest of the evening.
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