Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (trading as Petrotrin) was a state-owned oil company in Trinidad and Tobago. Its principal activities were the exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons in addition to the manufacturing and marketing of petroleum products. As a state enterprise, Petrotrin was under the direct control of the Minister of Finance acting as the Corporation Sole, and the Ministry of Energy as the line ministry that provides specialized technical analyses and statutory approvals for the company’s operations. History The company was established in 1993 by the merger of Trintopec and Trintoc, two state-owned oil companies. A third company, Trinmar Ltd was merged into the company in 2000. Trintoc was formed from the assets of Shell Trinidad Ltd in 1974 and Texaco in 1985. Trintopec was formed in 1985 when the government purchased the interests of Trinidad Tesoro, a joint venture between the government and Tesoro Oil Company, which was created to purchase the assets of British Petroleum (BP) in 1969. Trinmar was formed when the government purchased the offshore exploration assets of Trinidad Northern Areas Limited (TNA) which was formed by the then "Big Three": British Petroleum, Texaco and Shell. These companies were formed from a suite of earlier companies including Trinidad Oilfields Limited (TOL), United British Oilfields of Trinidad (UBOT), Trinidad Leaseholds Limited (TLL), Trinidad Petroleum Development Co (TPD), Apex Trinidad Oilfields (APEX/ATO) and Kern Trinidad Oilfields (KTO), which had themselves been formed to first able commercialize oil finds in Trinidad in the early twentieth century. Petrotrin operated in land and marine acreage across southern Trinidad. In some instances, the company engaged in joint ventures, lease operator-ships, farm-outs and incremental production services contracts to support its exploration and production activities. In 2004, Petrotrin was granted an automatic stake in all exploration and production arrangements with foreign companies in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2018, 90% of Petrotrin’s sales to the local market were fuel – 46% from gasoline, 37% from diesel, 11% from jet fuel and 5% from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or cooking gas). Petrotrin exported to the Caricom market with the main countries being Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana. Refining In the early 1900s, there were several small refineries operating in Trinidad, including plants in Santa Flora (TPD 1930 – ?) and Brighton (UBOT 1911–1978). These were all closed over time as they became non-viable either because of aging technology or supply and cost challenges.