For­mer en­er­gy min­is­ter Stu­art Young has launched a blis­ter­ing at­tack on the Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar ad­min­is­tra­tion, ac­cus­ing the Gov­ern­ment of in­com­pe­tence and mis­man­age­ment of the coun­try’s en­er­gy sec­tor fol­low­ing the shut­down of a ma­jor fer­tilis­er plant at Point Lisas, and warn­ing that fur­ther clo­sures can fol­low.

In its first quar­ter earn­ings call on April 30, Rich Sum­n­er, the CEO and pres­i­dent of the Van­cou­ver, Cana­da-head­quar­tered Methanex, said the com­pa­ny is con­sid­er­ing “all pos­si­ble out­comes,” in­clud­ing the po­ten­tial idling of its pro­duc­ing methanol plant or a short-term gas con­tract, as re­port­ed by the Sun­day Busi­ness Guardian.

In a post on so­cial me­dia yes­ter­day, Young said that in less than a year, the Gov­ern­ment’s han­dling of gas al­lo­ca­tion pol­i­cy has al­ready led to the clo­sure of plants op­er­at­ed by Nu­trien, one of the world’s largest fer­tilis­er com­pa­nies, and has now put T&T’s methanol sec­tor at risk, adding that Methanex—one of the largest glob­al methanol pro­duc­ers—has sig­nalled that it may al­so be forced to shut down op­er­a­tions in the coun­try.