Energy Minister back on the job after 'minor medical procedure'

ENERGY Minister Franklin Khan says he is in good health and back on the job after "a minor medical procedure" last week.

On Tuesday, Khan told Newsday he went into Westshore Medical Private Hospital on April 9 to do the procedure and he was discharged on April 10. He did not provide details about the procedure but reiterated it was minor.

Khan explained that he works remotely, for the most part, with Cabinet and Cabinet's finance and general purpose committee as meetings have been held virtually during the covid19 pandemic. He said he goes occasionally to the ministry.

While the procedure prevented him from participating in a virtual OPEC meeting on April 9, Khan said he was briefed about what happened at the meeting. Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Allyson West and Energy Ministry Penelope Bradshaw-Niles represented TT.

In a statement, Young said TT was invited to participate as an observer.

At the meeting, OPEC countries agreed to reduce crude oil production by 10 million barrels oil per day, and non-OPEC countries would cut output by five million barrels of oil per day for May and June. Khan said TT has not cut its oil production and was not asked to do so at the meeting. He added that TT's current oil production of 60,000 barrels of oil per day is "very miniscule."

Khan also said TT has been able to keep its domestic gas production steady around 3.5 to 3.6 billion cubic feet per day. He said the ministry has regular conversations with energy companies in TT about keeping their production levels up. Khan said because of the impact of the covid19 pandemic on the global economy, the decision by OPEC and OPEC Plus (Russia and other allied producers) to reduce oil production will not have any immediate impact on world oil prices.

He explained this was because global oil inventories are high and will take time to draw down. Khan said some analysts forecast that oil prices could reach up to US$45 per barrel in the next three months if the situation with covid19 improves. But, he added, these forecasts may not be accurate and it was wait-and - at this stage. On Tuesday, Brent was trading at US$ $29.63 per barrel while West Texas Intermediate was hovering just above US$20 a barrel.

In response to the pandemic, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced Government would revise its budget oil price estimates of US$60 per barrel to US$40 per barrel and natural gas from US$3 to US$1.80 per mmbtu.