THE Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) is to be wound up by March 31, but the future of its main subsidiary — Petrojam — will be subject to further consultations and parliamentary deliberations to decide its future.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy Carol Palmer revealed the timeline yesterday at a meeting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), where the second supplementary estimates for 2019/20 were reviewed.

When the closure of the PCJ was announced last September, after months of drama surrounding the operations of Petrojam, the parliamentary Opposition called for transparency, which it said only a forensic audit could provide, before the corporation’s functions are subsumed by the central ministry.

Petrojam will continue to operate as is, as a public entity, while consultations continue, Palmer told the PAAC. The consultations are among the recommendations coming out of the strategic review of the refinery, which was ordered by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

“All actions, all transition activities prescribed by the Transformation Implementation Unit of the Ministry of Finance are in full gear,” said Palmer.

She said the affiliated entity, Petrojam Ethanol Company Limited, will be wound up on the same date. However, there are to be consultations to determine the future of Petrojam and Jamaica Aircraft Refuelling Services (JARS), which is 51 per cent owned by British Petroleum. JARS supplies turbo fuel for planes at the island’s international airports in Kingston and Montego Bay.

National Energy Solutions Limited, another subsidiary of the PCJ, which had also come under parliamentary and public scrutiny over its operations, was wound up last November.

Last September, Energy Minister Fayval Williams told Parliament that Cabinet’s decision to subsume the core functions of the PCJ into the ministry would result in a more cost and efficient operations, and allow the Government to have a more comprehensive grasp of the nation’s energy sector.

“It will remove the disconnect that seems inherent in ministry/parastatal relationships and it will create synergies and completeness in the ability of the Government to manage the energy portfolio,” Minister Williams told the House of Representatives.

The Opposition People’s National Party said the decision to close the PCJ was ill-considered, ill-timed, and done without consultation with the energy council.

The auditor general, in December 2018, submitted a compendium review of both the operations of the PCJ and Petrojam to Parliament, following a probe of the entities, which was commissioned in response to public concerns about alleged corruption at the State oil refinery.

Among issues raised in the report were deficiencies in PCJ’s oversight of Petrojam and a breakdown in the reporting relationship between the entities.

According to the auditor general, the inadequacy in the established oversight mechanism was demonstrated by the board of directors and its sub-committees’ failure to convene regular meetings, which impaired their ability to undertake strategic management and oversight responsibilities.

The auditor general’s report said her team found no evidence that the ministry enforced the reporting requirements in ensuring that Petrojam faithfully complied with the reporting requirements and as such, the non-compliance would have curtailed its oversight responsibilities and reporting requirements to Parliament.