Relief at the pumps coming

Motor vehicle owners across the country can now breathe a sigh of relief with news that a temporary solution has been implemented to avert a potential fuel shortage in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

Imran Phillips, Sales Representative for Rubis St Vincent, one of the suppliers of diesel and gasoline, confirmed that a shipment was expected to arrive in the country yesterday, Wednesday December 21.

He explained that once Rubis received word of the shipment, arrangements were made to sell a quantity of the product to Sol.

“Because we had that extra product coming, we were able to sell some to Sol,” Phillips told SEARCHLIGHT.

“So you would definitely see an ease in traffic because their (Sol) stations should have some product,” he continued.

General Manager of Sol EC Ltd, Steve Francis confirmed earlier this week that his company was out of diesel and running low on gasoline, because it had not received a shipment of the products.

The delay in shipment was attributed to labour disputes at Petrotrin, in Trinidad the primary supplier of petroleum products throughout the region.

The problem was compounded because, according to Francis, his company had not received definite word on when a shipment would be arriving in the country.

But while admitting that his company was experiencing a shortage, Francis noted that there was not an overall shortage of petrol products in the country.

Motorists had to however endure long lines at the pump and in some instances, were limited in the quantity they were allowed to purchase.

Phillips told SEARCHLIGHT that while Rubis filling stations were never out of the product, they were stretched because of the increase in demand.

“We were stretched because their station (Sol) would have been running out and we were a little short on staff,” Phillips explained.

“There was some difficulty keeping stations stocked with product, but now that we have been able to get some in and sell some to Sol, it would improve things significantly.”

Phillips said that Rubis sold some product to Sol last week, but had to ensure that a supply of product was kept to supply VINLEC.

“So we were unable to sell Sol anymore product,” he said.

“Things were tight, it was rough, but things should definitely be smoothened out now that they (Sol) got some product into their station,” Phillips continued.

Meanwhile, when SEARCHLIGHT contacted Sol, the position remained the same in that the company was still awaiting confirmation on arrival of the product.