NEWS
Touchstone CEO: We may lose money with higher oil prices
Paul Baay, Touchstone Exploration president/CEO, said sometimes a rise in the world oil price may cause his company to actually start to lose money rather than make more, due to new taxes kicking in when the price reaches to a certain threshold. He was addressing a panel discussion at the 2023 Energy Conference held by the TT Energy Chamber at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain, on Tuesday. The topic under discussion was improving the investment climate, while the conference's overall theme was navigating a complex energy future. When the world oil price is low oil firms pay a petroleum profits tax (PPT), but upon rising to a certain level an additional tax kicks, the supplemental petroleum tax (SPT.) Read more here
3 Coast Guardsmen appear in court on murder charge
Three members of the T&T Coast Guard appeared virtually before Magistrate Maureen Baboolal-Gafoor in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates' Court yesterday, charged with the murder of a Maraval man. Able Body Seaman Kaydan Boucaud, of St Ann’s Road, Port-of-Spain, Able Body Seaman Elijah Julien, of North Upper 7th Avenue, Malick, Barataria, and Writer Emmarson Pardassie, of L’anse Mitan Road, Carenage, appeared in the Fifth Court. The three accused were arrested on January 18, 2023, after officers from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations (HBI) Region One conducted extensive investigations into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance and death of Teddy Sylvester. Read more here
POLITICS
Trinidad and Tobago gets US approval to explore Venezuela gas field
THE Prime Minister has announced that Trinidad and Tobago can resume exploration of Venezuela's gas field after the United States agreed to waive existing sanctions that affected the deal. He said the waiver was granted on Tuesday to allow the country to proceed with the development of the Dragon gas field “with specific terms to be finalised.” In a media briefing on Tuesday afternoon, at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, Dr Rowley said, “What this means is that the restrictions from the Dragon Gas is now relieved and all relevant parties can progress the plans to result in natural gas from Venezuela from TT and unto Caribbean, European and other markets bringing much humanitarian benefits to the Venezuela population and greater energy security to the Caribbean region.” Read more here
US VP Harris talks energy security, climate resilience with Rowley
US Vice President Kamala Harris shared a call with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday, discussing the strengthening of energy security and climate resilience of the Caribbean. According to a statement from the White House, “The Vice President conveyed to the Prime Minister that the Treasury Department would take action to help meet the region’s long-term energy needs.” The Vice President and Prime Minister agreed to continue to work together on these and other common challenges, including addressing the situation in Haiti. Harris has had close ties with Caricom, holding several meetings with Caribbean leaders since taking office. Read more here
BUSINESS
Govt to buy new port scanners
The Government has taken a decision to purchase four new mobile scanners for the country’s ports, Finance Minister Colm Imbert has said. “We recognise that Trinidad and Tobago sits on a drug trafficking corridor, which links drug producing regions in Central and South America with the large drug-consuming markets in North America and beyond. “This traffic has generated high levels of violence and gang-related crime in the country. And as we all mobilise to counter these nefarious activities, it is imperative that the Customs and Excise Division upgrade its fleet of mobile scanners to provide enhanced, non-intrusive inspection coverage of exports and imports,” he said yesterday. Read more here
REGIONAL
Gov’t has repaired Guyana’s ‘tainted’ international image
WITHIN the last three years, the People Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) led government has been in damage control mode to rebuild Guyana’s international image which was tainted by the APNU+AFC administration. This is according to Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Hugh Todd, who during his contribution to the 2023 budget debate on Tuesday, reflected on the APNU+ AFC’s behaviour during the 2020 General and Regional Elections and the alleged attempts that were made to “steal the elections.” Todd reminded the National Assembly that the international community intervened and eventually called for the APNU+AFC administration to allow a “peaceful transition”. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Microsoft Outlook and Teams down for tens of thousands around world
Microsoft says it has "rolled back a network change" it thinks may be linked to tens of thousands of worldwide users being unable to access its services, including Teams and Outlook. Downdetector, which tracks website outages, showed more than 5,000 people in the UK had reported the email service Outlook was inaccessible. Other services including Teams and Xbox Live were also reported as not working. Microsoft said it was "monitoring the service" as the change takes effect. Read more here
25th January 2023