PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, May 15, CMC -Former prime minister Stuart Young Friday said that the decision by the United States-based rating agency, Moody’s to withdraw its ratings of National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC) “is a very worrying and serious red flag”.
Moody’s on Thursday said it had withdrawn the Ba2 corporate family rating (CFR), ba2 baseline credit assessment (BCA) and Ba2 senior unsecured notes of NGC. It said prior to the withdrawal, the outlook was negative.
“We have decided to withdraw the rating(s) because of inadequate information to monitor the rating(s), due to the issuer’s decision to cease participation in the rating process,” Moody’s said.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Young, a former energy and energy industries minister here, blamed the Kamla Persad-Bissessar government for the “destruction” of the NGC.
He said the government together with the the current Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Dr. Roodal Moonilal, the NGC chairman, Gerald Ramdeen and others “continue to destroy our energy sector in record time by decimating NGC.
“To have the global rating agency Moody’s withdraw its ratings of NGC, our crown jewel, is a very worrying and serious red flag. This has never happened before. It has global implications. It will also negatively affect Trinidad and Tobago’s sovereign rating.”
Young said that the withdrawal by Moody’s must be “also be seen in light of what is happening with Nutrien, Methanex, Proman and other companies at Pt Lisas.
“The increases in gas prices to the light manufacturing sector which has led to increased prices of goods to the population,” Young added.
In its statement on Thursday, Moody’s said NGC, headquartered in Point Lisas, “is a diversified natural gas transmission and distribution company with exploration and production operations. The company, formed in 1975 is completely state-owned.
“NGC is Trinidad and Tobago’s sole purchaser, transporter and distributor of natural gas to the domestic natural gas-based energy sector and is also the government’s designated agent to promote and facilitate natural gas-based investments in the country,” Moody’s said, noting that the company has equity stakes in Phoenix Park Gas Processors Ltd., which owns and operates Trinidad and Tobago’s sole cryogenic gas processing plant, and in Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad and Tobago, which is a supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to global markets.
It said that NGC, through its downstream subsidiary NGC Petrochemicals Limited (NPL), also has a 20 per cent shareholding in the Caribbean Gas Chemical Ltd’s Methanol and Dimethyl Ether Petrochemical Complex.
“More than 70 per cent of NGC’s gas sales volume is directed to the domestic petrochemical industry (ammonia and methanol), with the remaining sold to the domestic power (19 per cent), steel (seven per cent) and other petrochemical and light industrial customers (less than five per cent). NGC owns around 1,000 kilometers of both offshore and onshore pipelines, with a maximum capacity of 4.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d).”
The government has not responded as yet to Moody’s decision.
CMC/ag/ir/2026