Cab­i­net has agreed to se­lect Pa­tri­ot­ic En­er­gies and Tech­nolo­gies Com­pa­ny Ltd (PET­CL),- a com­pa­ny whol­ly owned by the Oil­field Work­ers Trade Union (OW­TU) as the pre­ferred bid­der for the sale of Petrotrin's re­fin­ery.

The an­nounce­ment was made by Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert in Par­lia­ment.

Im­bert said PET­CL's in­di­cat­ed up­front cash US$ 700 mil­lion for the re­fin­ery as­sets plus US$300 mil­lion for the non-core as­sets of lega­cy Petrotrin.

How­ev­er, the non-core as­sets were not of­fered for sale by the Gov­ern­ment.

PET­CL was one of three bid­ders.

Im­bert said Cab­i­net al­so agreed that PET­CL be grant­ed a three-year mora­to­ri­um on all pay­ments of prin­ci­ple on in­ter­est to­ward the pur­chase of the re­fin­ery.

"And a fur­ther ten years at a fair mar­ket in­ter­est rate to com­plete the pay­ment of the sum of US $700 mil­lion it has of­fered for the re­fin­ery."