As Government continues to encourage investment in renewable sources of energy, private interests are being urged to consider wind energy as a lucrative area for investment.
“We are trying to encourage private players, not just Government, to actually go into this as a business, because we believe that it is attractive enough for a company to make a return on their investment,
Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM), Hon. Julian Robinson
Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM), Hon. Julian Robinson, says Jamaica is ripe for investment in renewable energy.
In an interview with JIS News, the State Minister said following a recent assessment of the rates paid to persons who generate energy which is then sold to the grid, a recommendation is now on the table that will make it more attractive for investors to invest locally.
Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell has dismissed reports of
Valero Energy Corp announced Monday that it will convert its shuttered oil refinery on the southern Caribbean island of Aruba into a fuel storage facility.
The San Antonio, Texas-based company suspended refining operations in March at the Aruba refinery, which processed heavy, sour crude and once had a capacity of about 275,000 barrels a day.
It said it stopped producing gasolene and other fuels at the site due to high oil prices and “unfavourable refinery economics.”
But on Monday, Valero announced that it had decided to reorganise the unprofitable site into a storage terminal on the Dutch Caribbean island of just over 100,000 inhabitants.
For years, Valero has been trying unsuccessfully to sell the Aruba refinery, which the company says is still ready to restart if a buyer can be found.
Valero Chairman and CEO Bill Klesse said Aruba’s deep-water and smaller berths will give the terminal flexibility to load the biggest crude freighters.
“We believe that Aruba has the assets to compete as a world-scale crude and refined products terminal,” Klesse said in a statement.
The company’s local subsidiary has notified employees that it will require a significantly smaller workforce.
The reorganisation and workforce reduction is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
From Aruba, Valero spokesman Bill Day said there are currently about 600 employees at the site. They were kept on the payroll during the suspension of refinery operations.
“Valero hasn’t determined the number of employees to staff the terminal operations yet; that will be done over the next several days in meetings with employees and union representatives,” Day said.
A spokesman for the Independent Oil Workers Union of Aruba did not immediately return calls for comment on Monday.
Officials at Aruba’s department of economic affairs, commerce and industry also did not immediately return calls seeking comment about ways to offset the economic damage.
In recent years, the company has said it represented more than 12 per cent of Aruba’s gross domestic product.
Valero said it will continue to invest in Aruba with upgrades to the terminal. It will also continue to supply gas, diesel, jet fuel and fuel oil to the island just north of Venezuela.
Refineries in the Caribbean and on the East Coast of the United States (US) have struggled in recent years because the crude oil they use has been priced higher than the oil available to refiners in the middle of the US.
Earlier this year, Hess Corp closed its massive Hovensa oil refinery in the US Virgin Islands, stunning nearly 2,000 workers on the island of St Croix. Plans also call for that Caribbean refinery to be converted into a fuel storage terminal.
– AP
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120904/business/business5.html
A lockdown of the local petroleum sector is looming as furious industry stakeholders intensify calls for Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell to intervene and plug gaping holes which they say are making their survival increasingly difficult.
The peeved stakeholders include petroleum tanker drivers, haulage contractors and service station operators, all of whom point fingers at petroleum marketing companies, which they claim are walking away with huge profits while the rest of the sector struggles as a result of policies they have imposed.
It is against this background that the stakeholders are joining forces to lobby the Government to introduce legislation which they feel will create a level playing field.
Their concerns have heightened in the wake of recent moves by one marketing company to terminate the contracts of several service stations which reportedly failed to meet performance targets it had set.
The threats of closure sent shockwaves through the petroleum retail sector and resulted in several meetings involving the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association (JGRA). Out of those discussions came plans to implement a wide range of cost-cutting measures in order for them to remain afloat. The termination of the jobs of scores of pump attendants and other workers was among them.
It is a last resort for JGRA President Trevor Heaven, but he said it will be inevitable if the Government fails to address serious anomalies relating to the policies of the marketing companies.
“We don’t want to raise prices; in fact, we can’t. And we don’t want to dislocate our employees, but we need equitable margins to take into account factors such as shrinkage (evaporation of a portion of the product),” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Shrinkage, according to one industry expert, normally occurs in the transportation of fuel from one location to another, or in the process of filling up at service stations.
Another issue with which the sector grapples, added Heaven, was that service station operators who lease properties from marketing companies, and who seek to diversify their income, are faced with strong resistance.
“The marketers should allow retailers to use the facilities to explore other income-generating activities. The moment you decide to go into a tyre sale venture or any other service on the property, you are told how much you will need to pay,” Heaven said, describing the lease agreements as onerous.
“We have never seen this level of fallout before, and it speaks to the fact that the business itself is becoming more and more challenging,” said Heaven, who told the Observer that he would be meeting with other aggrieved stakeholders before approaching the energy minister.
For Corporate Area service station operator Dwight Moore, the blame lays at the feet of successive political administrations which have failed to nip the problem in the bud by introducing legislation to level the playing field.
“We want a win-win situation, because we understand that they (the marketing companies) made an investment when they decided to come to Jamaica, and we fully appreciate the need for them to capitalise on that investment. However, the existing legislation favours them, as they are able to set margins without sharing any of their benefits with service station operators. We get the product at near commercial rates and then have to resell, despite us bearing the brunt of costs associated with product shrinkage, security, etc. These costs erode what you make on the product. What we need is equity,” Moore declared.
Despite several efforts, the Observer was unable to speak with representatives of two of the major marketing companies operating in the country.
Energy Minister Paulwell was also unavailable as he was said to be off the island. However, a senior official of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy, and Mining acknowledged that the ministry was aware of the charges against the marketing companies.
According to the officer, a comprehensive review of the local petroleum retail sector has been completed, and will lead to a raft of changes relating to issues such as safety, transparency and competitiveness.
The technocrat explained that the measures will also result in the creation of a level playing field for all the stakeholders, including haulage contractors, tanker drivers and the petroleum marketing companies. The Observer was also told that the proposed measures, some of which are likely to be legislated, are in keeping with the overall thrust to modernise the local petroleum sector.
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A lockdown of the local petroleum sector is looming as furious industry stakeholders intensify calls for Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell to intervene and plug gaping holes which they say are making their survival increasingly difficult.
The peeved stakeholders include petroleum tanker drivers, haulage contractors and service station operators, all of whom point fingers at petroleum marketing companies, which they claim are walking away with huge profits while the rest of the sector struggles as a result of policies they have imposed.
It is against this background that the stakeholders are joining forces to lobby the Government to introduce legislation which they feel will create a level playing field.
Their concerns have heightened in the wake of recent moves by one marketing company to terminate the contracts of several service stations which reportedly failed to meet performance targets it had set.
The threats of closure sent shockwaves through the petroleum retail sector and resulted in several meetings involving the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association (JGRA). Out of those discussions came plans to implement a wide range of cost-cutting measures in order for them to remain afloat. The termination of the jobs of scores of pump attendants and other workers was among them.
It is a last resort for JGRA President Trevor Heaven, but he said it will be inevitable if the Government fails to address serious anomalies relating to the policies of the marketing companies.
“We don’t want to raise prices; in fact, we can’t. And we don’t want to dislocate our employees, but we need equitable margins to take into account factors such as shrinkage (evaporation of a portion of the product),” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Shrinkage, according to one industry expert, normally occurs in the transportation of fuel from one location to another, or in the process of filling up at service stations.
Another issue with which the sector grapples, added Heaven, was that service station operators who lease properties from marketing companies, and who seek to diversify their income, are faced with strong resistance.
“The marketers should allow retailers to use the facilities to explore other income-generating activities. The moment you decide to go into a tyre sale venture or any other service on the property, you are told how much you will need to pay,” Heaven said, describing the lease agreements as onerous.
“We have never seen this level of fallout before, and it speaks to the fact that the business itself is becoming more and more challenging,” said Heaven, who told the Observer that he would be meeting with other aggrieved stakeholders before approaching the energy minister.
For Corporate Area service station operator Dwight Moore, the blame lays at the feet of successive political administrations which have failed to nip the problem in the bud by introducing legislation to level the playing field.
“We want a win-win situation, because we understand that they (the marketing companies) made an investment when they decided to come to Jamaica, and we fully appreciate the need for them to capitalise on that investment. However, the existing legislation favours them, as they are able to set margins without sharing any of their benefits with service station operators. We get the product at near commercial rates and then have to resell, despite us bearing the brunt of costs associated with product shrinkage, security, etc. These costs erode what you make on the product. What we need is equity,” Moore declared.
Despite several efforts, the Observer was unable to speak with representatives of two of the major marketing companies operating in the country.
Energy Minister Paulwell was also unavailable as he was said to be off the island. However, a senior official of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy, and Mining acknowledged that the ministry was aware of the charges against the marketing companies.
According to the officer, a comprehensive review of the local petroleum retail sector has been completed, and will lead to a raft of changes relating to issues such as safety, transparency and competitiveness.
The technocrat explained that the measures will also result in the creation of a level playing field for all the stakeholders, including haulage contractors, tanker drivers and the petroleum marketing companies. The Observer was also told that the proposed measures, some of which are likely to be legislated, are in keeping with the overall thrust to modernise the local petroleum sector.
Read more:
(AP) -The price of oil crept up closer to US$97 a barrel today on expectations that the European Central Bank will soon announce new measures to fight the continent’s debt crisis.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for October delivery was up 47 cents to US$96.94 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract rose US$1.85 to finish at US$96.47 Friday. There was no closing price Monday because of a public holiday in the US.
In London, Brent crude was up $1.72 at $116.29 on the ICE Futures exchange.
The ECB’s governing council is meeting Thursday and ECB President Mario Draghi is expected to reveal a new bond-buying programme aimed at easing borrowing cost for countries like Spain and Italy.
The ECB’s awaited announcement “is likely to prompt speculative financial investors to jump on the bandwagon and drive the (oil) price further upward,” said analysts at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
“The development of prices and the commitment displayed by investors are at odds with the fundamental data, which continue to suggest an oversupply,” analysts at Commerzbank said. If the central banks fail to live up to expectations, oil prices are likely to drop sharply, they added.
Speculation about the ECB’s stimulus measures has helped support the euro against the dollar. After dropping to near two-year lows near US$1.20 at the end of July, the euro has pushed back to near US$1.26. That pushes up oil prices, which is traded in dollars and becomes cheaper for holders of other currencies when the dollar drops.
Oil analyst Stephen Schork said in a report that oil prices could see “increased volatility this week” due to the loss of a trading day Monday because of a holiday in the US.
The release Friday of US nonfarm payrolls for August, a closely watched gauge of employment in the world’s No 1 economy, also could impact prices, Schork said. He attributed recent swings in the oil price to the conflicting influences of a lower dollar and refinery disruptions in the US Gulf Coast that resulted from Hurricane Isaac.
While a substantial amount of oil and gas production remains offline, production is coming back as expected. No major damage to oil platforms or refineries has been reported.
In other Nymex energy futures trading, heating oil rose 2.53 cents to US$3.2055 a gallon and wholesale gasoline was up 2.31 cents at US$2.9959 a gallon. Natural gas fell 2.8 cents to US$2.771 per 1,000 cubic feet
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The first Caribbean International Electric Car Show was launched at the Cayman Motor Museum in West Bay in Grand Cayman.
There it was officially announced that regulations allowing electric cars to be registered in the Cayman Islands had been approved.
A number of different models were on display, including the popular Wheego; a two-seater zippy vehicle that will be one of the cars available for purchase in the Cayman islands.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/cayman-hosts-1st-caribbean-international-electric-car-show
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM), Julian Robinson, says Jamaica is ripe for investment in renewable energy.
Following a recent assessment of the rates paid to people who generate energy which is then sold to the grid, a recommendation is now on the table that will make it more attractive for investors to invest locally, said Robinson said, adding this will bring significant benefits to the energy consuming public.