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For­mer Prime Min­is­ter and for­mer en­er­gy min­is­ter Stu­art Young has warned that the coun­try could face bond de­faults, law­suits, and a sov­er­eign cred­it down­grade due to what he de­scribes as a se­ri­ous over­sight by the UNC Gov­ern­ment in the re­cent min­is­te­r­i­al as­sign­ments.

In a state­ment on Thurs­day, Young raised alarm over the May 13, 2025 Gazette No­tice as­sign­ing re­spon­si­bil­i­ties to Cab­i­net min­is­ters, say­ing it failed to ac­knowl­edge three key state en­er­gy com­pa­nies: Trinidad Pe­tro­le­um Hold­ings Lim­it­ed (TPHL), Her­itage Pe­tro­le­um Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed, and Paria Fu­el Trad­ing Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed.

He ex­plained that fol­low­ing the re­struc­tur­ing of Petrotrin, the three com­pa­nies were formed and as­sumed re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for sig­nif­i­cant fi­nan­cial oblig­a­tions, in­clud­ing the re­fi­nanc­ing of a US$850 mil­lion bond that was due in Au­gust 2019 and a sep­a­rate US$750 mil­lion bond.