Fernandez pushes for oil depots

[NewsWhore]

President Leonel Fernandez was in Samana yesterday, and as he kicked off the construction of the new aqueduct that will supply the city and surrounding areas with potable water, he announced that the government had received several offers to construct oil depots to avoid a recurrence of the recent fuel shortage. According to Fernandez, the idea would be to put the depots on the north coast, probably in Puerto Plata province and on the south coast, probably in the Haina area. According to the chief executive, "if these private sector initiatives are carried out, the possibility of another fuel shortage will be ended once and for all". Fernandez said that an oil depot in Puerto Plata would supply the 14 provinces of the northern half of the country. Speaking after a luncheon at the Cayocoa Hotel in Samana, the President said that the country could not be at the mercy of the arrival, or non-arrival, of fuels and these depots will help to eliminate the possibility of shortages. He said that the latest fuel crisis showed the nation that it was not possible to trust the routine and traditional way of doing things, and that the crisis just reaffirmed the government's idea of creating the depots. The need for an urgent solution is illustrated by the news that the oil carrying tanker that is scheduled to arrive in the country either today or tomorrow, carrying 85,000 barrels of diesel fuel (3.6 million gallons) will only be enough to fulfill needs for four days because of the increase in fuel consumption reported over recent weeks. A total of 885,239 gallons of fuel have been sold each day. These figures come from the Ministry of Finance Department of Hydro-carbides. According to their figures, consumption increased in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period last year, from 208.3 million gallons to 212.4 million gallons. This is equal to an absolute increase of 4.1 million gallons, or 1.9%.

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