MINISTER PHILLIP Paulwell, with portfolio responsibility for the energy sector, has been urging motorists not to panic or rush service stations because of the apparent shortage of petrol. He backs his appeal by pointing to the fact that there are three ships with supplies in Kingston Harbour, and contracts for future supplies are in place.
In effect, Mr. Paulwell is making sure that no finger of blame should be pointed at him for the untidy shambles that has developed in the wake of the shutdown of the Petrojam Refinery.
It seems to us that Mr. Paulwell's ministry must have some responsibility for the distribution of gasolene, once its importation was arranged so promptly after the explosion and shutdown.
The marketing companies, which by their nature are competing entities, can hardly be held responsible for the apparent logjam of tankers from both the Corporate Area and the western end of the island getting supplies from the refinery.
There must be technicalities involved in the unloading of ships to the facilities of the refinery which are still functional. The varieties of the products handled by the marketing companies have to be ascertained for distribution to petrol stations. It is this process that may be more painstaking than the general public realises; and which the minister has not dealt with in simply giving assurances that there are adequate supplies.
We are yet to get any word about the cause of the explosion and fire late last month. The initial projection was for two weeks of investigation. The fact that production has been halted points to serious damage in contrast to the November 2000 fire which affected only 10 per cent of the refinery capacity.
Frustrated motorists take no comfort in the fact that three ships loaded with petroleum products are waiting in Kingston Harbour. They want to know when the process of distributing the gas to petrol stations will be adequately managed so they can get regular supplies.
We hope that the Minister's visit to the refinery yesterday will result in some orderly management of the distribution process which has been so haphazard up to now.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
