Soldiers
tipped to deliver gas if...
Roxanne
Stapleton
Trinidad Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworld.com
09 17 06
IF THERE'S a strike at Petrotrin, the Defence Force
could be called in to deliver fuel to service stations.
Speaking
on TV6's Morning Edition yesterday, president of
the Petroleum Dealers Association, Derek Poon Tip,
alluded to measures that could come into force if
circumstances warranted such.
"We
hope not (of major strike action) ... but if there
was a strike, I think that between the Defence Force
and the management of NP, they would be able to
get through," with the delivery of fuel.
"I
think in the 70s there was a Petrotrin strike and
the Defence Force came out and actually drove the
delivery tankers to the service stations, delivered
fuel under escort, and there are enough management
personnel at NP who can actually man the gas delivery
tankers.
He
said that the demand and growth for diesel has been
phenomenal, but the capacity to deliver gas has
not increased-as a result most stations have to
get diesel delivered on a daily basis, "so
once you have a system that tight you're going to
have problems and even when there's not a gas shortage,
there's a problem getting diesel."
Told
that many believe that fuel problems will get worse
before getting better, Poon Tip noted: "Everyday
there are rumours that Petrotrin is about to go
on strike and once those rumours are circulated,
a certain amount of panic buying ensues.
"Unfortunately
this has been compounded by a problem last week
Friday where the delivery capacity of NP was stopped
one day.
"And
it put the system into a bit of chaos and basically
it has not recovered from that."
And
despite assurances from NP that things will return
to normal, it has not quelled panic buying: "From
where the motorist sits his concern is not how much
fuel we have at Petrotrin or at Sea Lots, his concern
is, 'Can I get fuel when I buy at a service station'
and in fact over the past days he has not been able
to get fuel as he pleases and at times it has a
line-up for two and three hours.
"What
NP has been trying to reiterate is that there is
a lot of fuel in the system ... at Sea Lots, Petrotrin,
so even though there's a temporary shortage of delivery
to the stations causing inconvenience to the motorists-there's
no impending national shortage of fuel.
Asked
how much fuel that is stored at Petrotrin, Poon
Tip answered: "I don't think anyone knows for
sure how many weeks fuel they have in storage, but
I'm confident that we'll have enough fuel stored
at Petrotrin and the Government always has alternatives,
if it begins to run really low."
Trinidad
Express
Saturday, September 16th 2006
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©2006 Trinidad Express . All Rights Reserved.
