Gov’t moves to cushion effects of oil crisis
COMMERCE, science and technology minister, Phillip Paulwell said the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) would be mandated “to get back into the business of selling solar panels for solar-water heaters”, as part of the government’s energy conservation programme. Government also plans to import energy-saving bulbs to sell to the public at a reduced price.
Oil prices have been rising because of the shutdown of production in Venezuela, caused by a widespread opposition strike. Venezuela is one of the world’s largest producers.
“We will now have to immediately put in place the conservation programme that has been with us for some time, but we have not been able to receive tremendous public support,” the minister said.
Jamaicans, he said, will have to find a way to lessen their needs and suggested that persons engage in car-pooling to cut down on the use of petrol.
Jamaica, under the San Jose Accord, gets 40 per cent of its oil from Venezuela. The agreement also allows the island to purchase oil from Mexico. Other suppliers include Ecuador and Trinidad.
Paulwell pointed out that in order to meet the shortfall in the Venezuelan supply, the Government increased its purchase of crude oil from Ecuador and Mexico and bought finished products such as gas oil, diesel oil and liquid petroleum gas from Trinidad.
He said that another shipment is due on January 15 from Ecuador and that with this additional supply the country would have enough reserves to take us through to the end of February.
He said, however, that the current price increases now experienced at the pumps were not as a result of a Government decision.
“The Government is unable to prevent price increases at this time for petroleum products because we have no control over those prices,” he said. He added that the increased prices would have to be passed on to the public. “It is not a taxation, it is a genuine price increase in the products across the globe. We will have to urge every single Jamaican to conserve, to try to share, to cut down on the use of electricity and the use of gasoline,” Paulwell stressed.
In the meantime, head of the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA), Clarence Clarke noted that members of the association would have to strengthen their efforts to advocate for alternative sources of energy.
He said that manufacturers had been discussing the use of solar and wind-assisted energy in their operations for some time now. He also said that the association was awaiting the outcome of a study on the use of sugar-cane for energy and added that the JMA would seek to “ensure that things are put in place for alternative sources of energy”.
“While Jamaica has no control over external shock, we must begin to look at what we can do internally. “The question of liquefied natural gas (LNG) must be vigorously pursued,” said Clarke.
The JMA president said he was also concerned that possible shortage of supply in the future coupled with increased oil prices on the world market and the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar could lead to the closure of some factories.
Nonetheless, Clarke observed that the immediate solution would have to be the adoption of energy-conservation measures. “We have a programme worked out with the Jamaica Public Service Company, where they would come in and do audits of how well we are conserving energy and from there, recommendations can be made for us to go to companies who can implement conservation methods” in our operations.
He said that a few companies have done some amount of retrofitting of these devices and as such, have accrued savings on their energy bills.