This episode of Swindled may contain graphic descriptions or audio recordings of disturbing events which may not be suitable for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

Petrotrin has a long and rich history dating back to the first oil well drilled in our country in the mid-1800s,

which firmly places it amongst the oldest existing oil and gas companies in the world.

Petrotrin, as the National Petroleum Company, operates to optimize the return from its resources

for the benefit of its shareholders and the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.

Petrotrin has a 100-year history through its predecessor companies.

We will therefore continue that legacy and continue as a responsible state enterprise in a sustainable manner.

Trinidad and Tobago is home to one of the world's oldest oil industries, but for more than half a century, it was controlled almost entirely by foreign interests.

The country gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, and in the decades that followed, its government strategically and diplomatically wrested control of its natural resources away from corporations like BP, Shell, and Texaco.

Trinidad's prolonged effort to modernize and nationalize the country's energy sector

culminated in 1993 with the creation of Petrotron,

which consolidated the nation's oil assets under a single state-owned entity.

But that progress had come at a cost.

Rapid growth outpaced safety standards and infrastructure.

Environmental damage was widespread and accidents

were frequent and mostly swept under the rug. However, there was one incident that the country

could not forget, a moment that exposed the true cost of neglect and signaled the need

for reformation within Trinidad's oil industry.

It happened on October 17, 1985.

A crew working for Trent Talk, one of the state entities later folded into Petrogen,

was nearing the completion of a recommissioning project on a quarter-mile subsea pipeline

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