BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Energy Minister Lisa Cummins, says the government is nearing the long-awaited merger of three-state owned energy companies by April 1 this year.
Minister of Energy and Business, Senator Lisa Cummins; Founder & Chairman of Williams Industries Inc., Ralph ‘Bizzy ‘Williams; and Jabari Alleyne of Treeternal Barbados, in discussion at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Third Green and Renewable Energy Expo, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, today. (C. Pitt/BGIS)The Mia Mottley government is seeking to merge the operations of the Barbados National Oil Company (BNOC), National Petroleum Corporation (NPC), and Barbados National Terminal Company Limited (BNTCL).
Cummins, speaking at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Third Green and Renewable Expo, said that the transition has been navigated without layoffs, positioning the move as a strategic step towards creating a more agile and diverse energy industry.
“The amalgamation of BNOC, NPC, and BNTCL is in its final stages, and by April 1, we will have a fully integrated company. We have not been twiddling our thumbs for the last year. We have done the work, and we are delivering results.”
Cummins said that the restructuring goes beyond administrative and financial consolidation, highlighting plans to establish several spin-off companies and special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) under a new holding company.
She told the ceremony these will create investment opportunities and generate jobs by allowing private-sector partnerships in energy projects.
“We are not being prescriptive about what those companies should be, but we have completed the groundwork to make them a reality,” she said.
The decision to merge and rebrand BNOC and NPC as a “national energy corporation” has been years in the making. Initial plans for consolidation were first proposed as far back as 2017 when the government aimed to streamline operations and eliminate redundancies to improve efficiency. This vision gained momentum in 2019 as discussions about transitioning to renewable energy began.
Regarding potential job cuts from the consolidation, Cummins said “we looked at the skills on both sides of the companies. BNTCL has a low staff count, so there’s nothing to worry about there.
“With NPC and BNOC, we identified overlapping skills and put a sharing agreement in place to ensure efficiency without sending anyone home.
“We promised there would be no job losses with Business Barbados, and we delivered. Officers had the option to stay with central government or move into the company, and the transition was seamless. We expect the same with BNOC, NPC, and BNTCL,” she said, making reference to the recent launch of the state business facilitation agency Business Barbados.
