Opposition Spokesman on Energy, Gregory Mair, wants an independent audit of
Opposition Spokesman on Energy, Gregory Mair, wants an independent audit of
A section of the Petrojam refinery. – File photo
Jerome Reynolds, Gleaner Writer
The State-owned oil refinery, Petrojam, is this week expected to furnish a full report to the Energy Minister, Phillip Paulwell, as the government probes the recent release of hazardous fumes in the Portmore area.
Paulwell instructed Petrojam to provide him with a report after the environment minister reported that the fumes may have been the result of illegal activity at the refinery.
It has been reported that the refinery could not account for 260 barrels of petroleum product.
Petrojam has indicated that it has launched an internal investigation into the matter and has also called in the police.
The company says the preliminary findings have already been shared with the Energy Minister.
The release of the noxious fumes last month resulted in 17 employees at the Portmore Toll Plaza becoming sick and caused the closure of the roadway.
jerome.reynolds@gleanerjm.com
The Petrojam Ethanol Limited (PEL) processing plant will remain shuttered for this year and probably until 2014 because of ethanol shortages, but it will continue to import and distribute the fuel for cars.
PEL hopes that market conditions will eventually normalise allowing it to produce ethanol following the shutdown of its 40-million gallon hydrous or wet-alcohol processing plant in November 2009 after its partnership with Brazilian company Coimex ended and its supply source dried up.
The state-owned energy company does not expect the current “unfavourable market conditions” to change during this fiscal year, according to disclosures to Parliament.
“Specifically, the unpredictability of viable supplies of hydrous ethanol for processing is not anticipated to improve, hence the company will not pursue the production of anhydrous ethanol,” said the Jamaica Public Bodies report produced by the Ministry of Finance.
Operators of the energy plant did not return calls for comment.
The sale of sugar cane to ethanol producers carries an opportunity cost for sugar producers. But as sugar prices spike on the world market, it has been increasingly difficult for fuel processors to maintain secure supplies of raw material or feedstock.
Sugar commodity prices have doubled over five years to US$0.20 per pound in May 2012 compared with US$0.09 in May 2007.
These market changes resulted in eroding the profit margin for production and left PEL without cheap raw material.
“With the unfavourable price differential for Caribbean Basin Initiative producers, it is now expected that stability will only be realised in another one to two years,” said the Public Bodies report. Jamaica’s fuel enter the US market duty-free under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act or CBERA.
PEL intends to capitalise on opportunities to process ethanol under toll processing arrange-ments if they arise in the current financial year.
Even without manufacturing fuel-grade ethanol, the plant expects to double its profit from ethanol sourced from the United States – projected at J$43 million net profit this fiscal year from J$22 million last year. The profit projection rests on hitting a target of J$4.01 billion or 30 per cent increase in revenue. But it is still below earlier profit levels nearly three years ago when the plant was pumping out fuel-grade ethanol for export.
PEL will mainly import denatured anhydrous ethanol from the US to satisfy the local demand for E87 and E90 gasolene processed and sold by oil refinery Petrojam Limited. Ethanol was added to the fuel mix in November 2008 to save on cost and replace a less eco-friendly additive to gasolene.
PEL was formerly owned directly by Petrojam but was restructured in 2008 as a subsidiary of Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, which is now parent to both energy operations.
Steven Jackson, Business Reporter
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120615/business/business2.html
Petrojam has projected that consumers could see a slight ease in pumps prices for the current fiscal year.
The refinery which is majority owned by the government, in its forecast for the 2012/2013 fiscal year says while it expects prices to remain strong in spite of continuing economic uncertainties, the average selling prices could fall about 3 percent.
Petrojam did not say how it expects the reduction in oil prices to affect prices at the pumps.
However since the start of the year pump prices have moved up by about 8 percent.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/petrojam-projects-slight-dip-petrol-prices
THE National Contracts Commission (NCC) has endorsed a US$2.1 million ($186 million) contract for General Electrics (GE) to supply and commission a new power plant at the Petrojam refinery in Kingston.
According to the NCC contract endorsements for the month of February, GE
With high light bills, constantly increasing petrol prices, the promise of the PNP last year to remove the GCT component on JPS bills, Petrojam refusing to divulge the money value of the materials after processing one barrel of oil and claiming
The state-owned oil refinery Petrojam has dismissed claims that it obtains crude oil at discounted prices under the PetroCaribe agreement with Venezuela but does not pass on the lower costs to consumers.
“It is not at a discount to Petrojam,” the refinery’s general manager, Winston Watson, declared at last week’s energy meeting at the refinery complex in Kingston.
There is he said a lot of misinformation and misdirected facts in the marketplace.
“We buy the crude oil from Venezuela at a competitive
The government of Jamaica is not using the pricing mechanism of the state-owned refinery, Petrojam, to jack up the price of petrol in order to benefit from increased tax revenues.
This was stated by General Manager of Petrojam, Winston Watson, on April 4, during a question and answer session on the topic:
Petrojam says the refinery upgrade will help to save the country almost 300 million U.S. dollars in fuel imports each year.
The refinery is to be upgraded at a cost of 1 point 2 billion U.S. dollars…but a date for the start of