‘A defining moment’: Trinidad and Tobago at a crossroads as oil runs out

Trinidad and Tobago’s per capita emissions are the world’s eighth highest, paradoxically fuelling climate change significantly while being hit hard by its effects. Illustration: Israel Vargas/Guardian

In 1930, Trinidad and Tobago produced more than 40% of the British empire’s oil. By the 1970s, the newly independent republic was producing 278,000 barrels of crude oil a day. For a country of just 1 million people, after the collapse of its sugar and cocoa industries, oil proved to be transformative.

Today, with a population of 1.5 million and oil production down to less than 54,000 barrels a day, Trinidad and Tobago is at a crossroads. The country’s only petroleum refinery closed in 2018 due to mismanagement and declining production by the state-owned Petrotrin company. A recent analysis noted that the energy revenues plummeted 48.4% to $14.7bn (£10.9bn) in the last fiscal year, while non-energy revenues grew by 26% to $32.7bn.