A number of Guyoil-franchised gas stations were out of gasoline or close to the end of their supplies yesterday.
This problem is believed to be connected to the procurement issues the company found itself in, with relation to the Petro-Caribe agreement and existing arrangements with suppliers in Trinidad.
The managers of some of the stations said they barely had enough gasoline for the next two days after which they would run out. Calls to Guyoil for an official comment on the situation proved futile yesterday.
One employee of the Sheriff Street Guyoil Service Station told this newspaper that no sales were being made because of “a problem with the pumps.” However, others said outright that there was no gas and that they would have supplies by the end of the week.
An official of the Guyana National Shipping Corporation, shipping agent to Guyoil, said yesterday that the oil tanker Tradewind Sunrise should be in Guyana on Thursday with a shipment of gasoline and other petroleum products. According to the official, Guyoil’s last shipment had arrived on November 11.
Some of the Guyoil pumping stations that had gasoline up to yesterday were Kitty Guyoil, Ross Service Station, Ivan Ho Service Station and Farley’s Service Station.
Guyoil, up to recently, had procured oil supplies for the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL).
The Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) had informed all companies that they would have had to buy at least 50 per cent of their fuel supplies under the Petro-Caribe agreement, which Guyana signed with Venezuela earlier this year. All the local companies had acceded to the request, except for Guyoil. The company was said to have made one shipment under that arrangement in May and never made another, claiming it was uneconomical to do so.
Late last week, Chairman of GPL Ronald Alli was removed and Head of the GEA Joseph O’Lall was sent on administrative leave, reportedly for their roles in a series of events, which led to the right kind of fuel not being procured and leading to the power company utilising diesel instead of the less expensive fuel oil for power generation.
