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Guyana tapping Petrocaribe fuel
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
Georgetown
Petroleumworld.com 05 24 07
Shipments of fuel which have begun to arrive from Venezuela under the Energy Cooperation Agreement, Petrocaribe are helping to cushion the pressure to find foreign exchange.In a telephone interview with Stabroek News, Prime Minister Sam Hinds said that Guyana is paying 60% on each purchase for the fuel and 40% would be paid over a thirty-year period according to the concession offered.
"There is no price concession but there is a credit financing concession which is 40% at this time. The price remains the same on the world market in keeping with OPEC (Organisation of Petro-leum Exporting Countries) agreement," he explained.
Guyana received its first shipment of fuel under the Petrocaribe agreement over a week ago and according to Hinds, Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA (Petroleos de Venezuela) is currently loading the second shipment of fuel for Guyana. It is expected that the second load would arrive in the country in a matter of two to three days once it leaves the port in the neighbouring country.
Local suppliers - Guyana Oil Company, SOL, Esso Standard and Texaco Oil Company - have lined up to take off the shipment that is due shortly, he said. The purchase of fuel is approved and conducted through the Guyana Energy Authority.
Guyana utilizes over 10,000 barrels of fuel daily and under the agreement, Venezuela would be supplying 50% of the country's oil needs. PDVSA is supplying the petroleum products through the subsidiary PDV Caribe, which was created to facilitate the agreement with Guyana.
This country would continue to buy the remaining 50% needed from Trinidad and Tobago which has been supplying Guyana with fuel on a continuous basis since 2002 after the major PDVSA strike of that year. From 1984 to May 2002 Guyana bought most of its petroleum products from Venezuela under the San Jose Accord. Before 1984 most of these products were bought from Trinidad and Tobago.
Apart from the economic benefits the buying country would gain because of the concessionary terms, Hinds said that Petrocaribe is calling on all Caribbean countries that have signed on to the agreement to be frugal in the use of fossil fuel and to conserve on energy. It also urges these countries to not only extend the current reserves of fuel, but to cut back on the emission of green house gases.
To this end, he reiterated that the Venezuelan and Cuban governments have begun energy conservation programmes encouraging the use of low energy bulbs and electrical appliances. Cuba has provided Guyana with some 400,000 low energy bulbs which were exchanged in households in and around Georgetown.
The Petrocaribe agreement, which was agreed to bilaterally between a number of Caribbean countries including Guyana and Venezuela in July 2005 in Jamaica, includes the establishment of a fund for social and economic development in the wider region for which Venezuela made the first capital injection of US$50 million. It also involves facilitating the installation of storage infrastructure for member states which subscribe to it; shipping provided at cost to move petroleum within the region; and provision of training to enhance efficiency in the use of conventional and renewable energy sources.
Stabroek News 23 05 07
Copyright© 2007 Stabroek News. All Rights Reserved.
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