Energy sector employment in Trinidad has declined significantly

The Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago says while the energy sector contributes between 30 and 40 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), it employs only about two percent of the national workforce — roughly 12,700 people.

The Chamber noted that employment in the sector has declined significantly over the past decade, with jobs also fluctuating sharply from quarter to quarter. The coefficient of variance — a statistical measure of variability — stands at around 24 percent for the energy sector, compared to about 3.5 percent for all other sectors.

The Central Statistical Office (CSO), which publishes quarterly Labour Force Survey Bulletins, includes petroleum and gas production, refining, and service contractors under the industry group for energy. According to the CSO, total employment across all sectors in the first quarter of 2025 was 558,900, down 2.3 percent from the previous quarter.

In contrast, energy sector jobs rose sharply from 8,100 in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 12,800 in the first quarter of this year — a 58 percent increase.

“Before this is celebrated, however, it needs to be understood in the context of the very high variability between quarters in the sector,” the Chamber said. “Jobs in the sector dropped by 27 percent between the third quarter and the fourth quarter in 2024. This is why it is important to look at longer-term trends and not just quarter-to-quarter variability.”

The Chamber explained that much of the fluctuation is due to the project-based nature of energy jobs, particularly large-scale maintenance events, or “turnarounds” (TARs), at facilities in Point Lisas, Atlantic, and other downstream plants. Offshore employment also varies significantly depending on drilling, installation, and maintenance programmes.

A turnaround, the Chamber said, is a planned event in which a facility or processing unit is taken offline for repairs, inspections, and upgrades. “During turnarounds, thousands of people are hired, mainly through contractors, to execute the work,” it noted, adding that these workers are often itinerant, moving between contractors and sometimes working in other sectors like construction or manufacturing once a project is complete.

While employment patterns have stabilised since the closure of the refinery in 2018 caused a sharp drop in 2019, the Chamber said that any major increase in jobs would require substantial new activity levels. Large construction projects in the 1990s and 2000s created many jobs, but with the current gas supply outlook, it is “unlikely that there will be any new plant construction work in the foreseeable future.”

“Reopening the refinery could create both permanent jobs and contractor jobs during the activities to refurbish and restart the facility, and many in the industry are awaiting further details,” the Chamber said.

The government has appointed a 12-member committee, chaired by former energy minister Kevin Ramnarine and including former PETROTRIN refinery managers and trade union officials, to develop a refinery reactivation strategy and submit a report by October.

In the upstream sector, the Chamber identified onshore drilling activity — especially in south Trinidad — as a potential source of significant new jobs. “Onshore oil projects typically create both direct jobs and many indirect jobs for subsectors like road transport, bridge, and road construction. Generally, oil production generates more jobs than gas production, as more activity is required to maintain production,” it said.