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Drivers flocked Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil) in Kitty and Rubis West Indies Limited Sunday after they were turned away by service stations that were said to be hoarding fuel until shipments of gasoline arrive from Curacao.
Managing Director of GuyOil, Badre Persaud blamed the Isla Oil Refinery in Curacao for the crisis, suggesting that the extended delay in shipments occurred because they didn’t have fuel to load the vessels.
When Guyana Chronicle asked if the shortage could have been avoided by reserving fuel for crisis periods, Persaud said that GuyOil has good storage facilities and the issue should not be scrutinized from that viewpoint but seen as an “extended delay” in the shipments of the gasoline.
He stated that the oil company’s first shipment is scheduled to arrive on Friday, while shipments for Sol Guyana (Inc.) will arrive today. He said that Rubis West Indies Limited shipment is also on its way.
“We are not out of gas. Our buffer stock…the reservoir will supply customers till the shipment arrives,” a supervisor from the GuyOil service station in Kitty said, adding that they are expecting 40,000 litres of fuel in their first shipment.
According to this service station supervisor, there was a congestion of vehicles in the gas station as owners stood beside their vehicles waiting to hoard as much fuel as they can since most service stations were closed. He added that earlier yesterday morning traffic was stalled along the Kitty Public Road.
Lorna Eastman, a supervisor for Sol Guyana (Inc.) on Vlissengen Road said that the service station was closed on Sunday in order to save fuel until their first shipment arrives. She announced that they were expecting fuel around noon yesterday.
“This is the third gas station I’m at looking for gas… I can’t understand why there isn’t any fuel. Every station I go to would tell me that they don’t have gas,” one customer said while waiting in a long queue at the Rubis Service Station on Vlissengen Road. He added that he believed a hike in oil prices was the main factor behind the shortage.
Another commuter complained that he was searching for gas the entire morning and was turned away from several gas stations. “It is taking a lot of my time. I went to Shell [Sol Guyana Inc.] on Vlissengen Road and they told me that I should return in another hour…this is very bad. I’m supposed to be in Linden. I search the East Bank and no gas.”
A taxi driver who also joined the long line at the Rubis Gas Station lamented the situation but said he was hoping that he would receive gasoline since the shortage was dampening business for him and the taxi service. He added that if he was denied fuel then he would have to stop working for a few days.
Extended holdup in Curacao
Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Energy Agency, Dr. Mahender Sharma said that the shortfall is consequent to an extended holdup experienced at the Isla Refinery in Curacao and the two vessels that arrived at the refinery between July 13 and July 25 waited on berthing instructions before travelling to Guyana. He added that efforts to source fuel from Petrotrin, Trinidad, at that time proved futile because Petrotrin was also experiencing shortage in mogas.
“Presently, the vessels at Curacao have completed loading approximately 35,085 barrels of mogas, 49,002 barrels of gasoil, 3,500 barrels of kerosene and 2,500 barrels of fuel oil and are en route to Guyana. The first shipment would arrive on Wednesday, July 31, 2013 and the second shipment would arrive on Friday, August 2, 2013,” Sharma stated in an email, adding that another vessel had started loading yesterday at Petrotrin, Trinidad.
“The current situation should be resolved by the end of the week,” he posited.
Over the weekend several gas stations started to shut down after they began to run out of fuel. The shortage plagued the East Coast of Demerara and some villages on West Demerara.
