(Trinidad Guardian) NiQuan yesterday terminated its 75 employees and will now mothball its Pointe-a-Pierre plant, which had been in “sleep” mode.
In an email to all staff, NiQuan’s founder and director Ainsley Gill said the company had run out of money trying to keep the plant operational.
But it is a wind-up petition filed by its former vice president David Small last month which was the final blow for the troubled Gas to Liquids (GTL) plant.
“Further, it is likely that a winding-up order will be made by the High Court pursuant to a winding-up petition brought against the company by two unsecured creditors. The next hearing before the court is scheduled for the May 3, 2024. As a result of this pending appointment of a liquidator by the court, the company is unable to extend the current furlough past the date of the 30th of April 2024. Therefore, at 5 pm on the 30th of April 2024, your contract of employment will be terminated and the company will issue individual formal termination letters,” Gill said in the letter to employees.
Employees have been furloughed since September 2023, after the plant was shut down following the death of Massy Energy employee Allanlane Ramkissoon on June 15, 2023, and the termination of the gas supply contract by the Trinidad and Tobago Upstream Downstream Company (TTUDEOCL) over a US$21 million debt.
Employees told Guardian Media yesterday that their National Insurance (NIS) payments and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) are also not paid up to date by the company, although they had been deducted from their salaries. In addition, NiQuan did not make contributions to their pension plan, which was part of their employment package with the Guardian Group.
In an email shared by the employees, which was sent by the Human Resources team last year when they queried the matter, it said, “The company has, and always has had, every intention to pay and resolve this matter fully with the Inland Revenue and the National Insurance Board and has been liaising with them continuously. For information, in no way would any employee be personally held responsible to settle any shortfalls owning Inland Revenue, that onus is on the company through the PAYE system, as are incurred penalties.”
However, the letter noted that the outstanding debt was supposed to be settled on the attainment of the commercial operations date (COD), which has not been yet achieved.
Mothballed
In his email, Gill said the company has no other option now but to mothball its Pointe-a-Pierre plant.
“During these last few months, the company has been preserving the plant in a wet layup in anticipation of an amicable solution and the return of gas. However, following the disproportionate curtailment of gas supply suffered by the company, followed by the wrongful termination of the Gas Supply Contract (GSC), it is with disappointment and frustration that the company has no other alternative, but to now place the plant into a dry layup and mothballed status.
“As a direct consequence of the difficulties mentioned above, it is with deep regret that the company’s senior secured mortgage noteholders have been unable to fund the company as we reasonably expected, and as a further direct consequence, the company is now unable to continue to preserve the GTL plant,” Gill said.
On February 1, Small, who was awarded a $20,647,017 million judgment by the courts five months ago for breach of contract by NiQuan initiated a wind-up petition due to non-payment of the amount.
Small was NiQuan’s vice president of Global Energy Services since 2015 and exited the company in November 2021. His judgment in September 2023, came amid financial problems plaguing the company. Its debt had ballooned and it had gone offline after not getting permission to operate by the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI), before it lost the natural gas contract for the plant.
In his wind-up petition, Small wrote to all the financial institutions that NiQuan does business with – Republic Bank Limited, Scotiabank Trinidad and Tobago Limited, First Citizens Bank Limited, RBC Royal Bank (Trinidad & Tobago) Limited, PECU Credit Union Cooperative Society, JMMB Group Trinidad and Tobago, Firstline Securities Limited and the Central Finance Facility Cooperative Society – with notice of the judgment and his intention to petition to wind-up the company.
However, all the financial institutions, through their lawyers, sought to have a hearing on Small’s matter adjourned until their clients could make representations and be allowed to participate in the proceedings.
Republic Bank argued that an order to wind-up the company could jeopardise the initiative to the detriment of secured and unsecured creditors.
In making its case to the court, Republic Bank argued that should the company become operational, Small would be repaid.
Gill, in his application on March 5 to dismiss the wind-up petition, described Small’s action as “oppressive and unfair”.
“There are other more appropriate remedies available to Mr Small in order to recover any indebtedness owed to him,” he said in his affidavit.
For his part, Gill’s defence is that while “NiQuan is experiencing cash flow difficulties, on a balance sheet analysis, its total assets exceed the value of the debt claimed by Mr Small and the aggregate value of all of its debts owed to its other creditors.”
On November 7, 2023, Republic Bank, along with other noteholders, passed a resolution to appoint a steering committee among noteholders to establish a plan for the now defunct plant moving forward.
To this end, the steering committee has engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers to develop a plan to rehabilitate the company with a view to making operations to settle its obligations to its various creditor groups.
That timeline is between eight to 12 months.