Could Trinidad’s Refinery Comeback Challenge Petrojam?

Remember when I told you oil-producing Trinidad was actually buying fuel from Jamaica? Well, Trinidad now wants to restart the refinery it shut down.

Back in January 2025, we brought you an exclusive interview with Petrojam’s General Manager, Telroy Morgan, about Jamaica supplying fuel oil to Trinidad and Tobago.

The irony got everybody talking: Jamaica doesn’t produce crude oil. Trinidad does. Yet Jamaica’s refinery was securing business supplying its oil-producing neighbour.

To be clear, that deal involved marine fuel for ships. Trinidad’s Paria said it was buying the fuel for its bunkering business—selling it on to vessels—and defended the arrangement as commercially beneficial.

But the bigger question we raised was about the shifting economic balance in the Caribbean.

Now there’s another development.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Finance Minister says the government is advancing a phased restart of the former Petrotrin refinery at Pointe-à-Pierre.

It is evaluating proposals from shortlisted local and international investors.

The refinery was shut down in November 2018 amid heavy debts and operating losses. There’s no reopening date just yet.

So what could a restart mean for Jamaica?

Potentially, more competition for regional fuel business.

If Trinidad can produce the right fuels at competitive prices, that could challenge some of the opportunities available to suppliers such as Petrojam.

But that depends on what the refinery produces, its costs and its customers. A restart wouldn’t automatically end purchases from Jamaica.

And for Trinidad, the real test is whether the economics have changed.

Who pays to restore the plant? Where does the crude come from? Can it operate profitably? And who carries the risk if it can’t?

The government says it wants a commercially viable, fully financed arrangement. Those details will determine whether this becomes a sustainable comeback.

Regional pride will get people talking. Competitive prices, reliable supply and profits will determine who gets the business.

And that’s the bottom line.

But what do you think? Was closing Petrotrin a costly mistake, or would reopening it risk throwing good money after bad?