Business View Caribbean - January 2015 67
Talking Business:
Thackwray Driver
30 minutes with the President/CEO of the Energy
Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago
BUSINESS VIEW: There was a mid-year review of
the energy sector of the country and I’m curious,
now that we’ve exited 2014, can you assess where
things are, where things changed dramatically in
the last six months – how do you feel about where
things are?
THACKWRAY DRIVER:
I think what has changed dra-
matically is the oil price crash– the declines interna-
tionally have changed things quite significantly in Trini-
dad & Tobago. I don’t know that most people saw that
coming and that big drop obviously changes things.
Even though Trinidad is a gas-dominated economy, oil
is still very important.
BUSINESS VIEW: How much of a concern is it? I
know some countries are in more of states of panic
than others right now, where would Trinidad be on
that scale?
DRIVER:
I don’t think we are in a panic situation like
Venezuela or Russia, because we have a bit more di-
versified production, with gas being our dominant ex-
port. Nevertheless oil, from my back of the envelope
calculations, contributes about 33 percent of the en-
ergy sector revenue to the government and energy
sector revenue is more than half of the total. So it’s
having an impact on government revenue, obviously,
and it also has an impact on the companies who are
oil-focused. If low prices continue it may impact on
their ability to carry out their investment plans. People
will be reviewing all of their expenses.
GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC SECTORS
