Tinubu: Trinidadian Gov’t Shortlists Final Bidders To Acquire Petrotrin Refinery

The government of Trinidad has announced three final contenders to acquire the state-owned Petrotrin refinery.

Naija News reports that Nigeria’s Oando Plc, owned by Wale Tinubu, the nephew of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was selected among the three final bidders for the refinery’s acquisition.

During a recent national budget presentation on Monday, Trinidad’s Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, announced the bidders.

It is worth noting that Petrotrin is a defunct state-owned oil entity in Trinidad and Tobago.

Minister Imbert highlighted that out of an initial pool of ten proposals, three companies have advanced to the final stage: the CRO Consortium, comprising three Trinidadian firms, INCA Energy from the United States, and Nigeria’s Oando Plc.

The bidding process commenced in February 2024, when the Trinidad and Tobago government engaged US-based Scotia Capital to lead the procurement efforts for the refinery by soliciting “expressions of interest.”

Imbert noted, “A formal selective Request for Proposals process will now be initiated to determine the winner among these three companies, to restart the refinery, if found feasible.”

The individual clarified that the submitted proposals were assessed according to five specific criteria, one of which included a well-defined restart plan and timeline provided by the proposing entity.

According to National Bureau of Statistics information, Nigeria imports petroleum products from Trinidad and Tobago.

This situation arises concurrently with the prolonged inactivity of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has not commenced petroleum production at the Port Harcourt refinery, having missed multiple deadlines.

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