Mark Titus, Business Reporter

Government's plan to fully roll out the chea-per and environmentally friendly E10 fuel islandwide by next month could be in jeopardy, if claims by at least one major industry player, that the state-owned refinery, Petrojam, is yet to put in place the infrastructure required, turns out to be true.

At the same time, some dealers of petroleum products are believed to be having a problem funding the preparation of their stations for the ethanol blend.

"I do not believe we are ready for 100 per cent roll out of E10 and we will not be until Petrojam builds another loading facility apart from Kingston," businessman and past president of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers' Association (JGRA), Trevor Heaven, told Sunday Business.

Heaven's pessimism regarding the prospects for the Government keeping its word to make the fuel type available islandwide within the first quarter of this year is based on what he says is Petrojam's failure, to date, to start work on its planned Montego Bay storage facility for the product.

"Building a tank for this kind of operation is a huge undertaking both in cost and time and I am disappointed that until now, they have not even started the construction process in order to do this. They are not ready and I don't think they will be ready for another six to eight months," said Heaven, who operates a service station in Mandeville.

There was no immediate response from Petrojam. Information and corporate affairs manager Francine Thelwell promised to check on the matter but was able to provide no word up to late yesterday. Efforts to reach energy minister Clive Mullings were also unsuccessful and written questions submitted to group managing director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), Dr Ruth Potopsingh, were not immediately answered.

No problem with rollout

Trevor Barnes, the president of the JGRA, said as far as he was aware, stations across the country had been getting their supplies of E10. He said he knew of no difficulties which would affect the Government's planned rollout date, but would be contacting the Ministry of Energy and the PCJ for an update.

The E10 gasolene blend, which contains 10 per cent ethanol, was first introduced to the market at a few service stations in November last year. At the time, full islandwide penetration was set for April this year.

Mullings, in announcing plans for the introduction of the fuel last October, said E10, while easier on the pockets on motorists, would also save the Government $2.3 billion per year on its oil spend. The full E10 rollout has been heralded as a central plank of the Government's energy-security strategy aimed at diversifying away from total dependence on oil, with its characteristically volatile price structure.

Mullings' ratings in the energy portfolio are also riding on the successful implementation of the project. However, there is said to be growing impatience among petroleum retailers, many of whom are experiencing logistical problems splitting orders for petroleum supplies between Montego Bay and Kingston, the only location from which E10 is now sourced.

"Even myself, here in Mandeville, who takes products from Montego Bay, we have had to be taking E10 from Kingston and the rest of the products from Montego Bay," Heaven complained.

Marketing companies and dealers are required to ensure that their stations are checked and made ready for the fuel. They cover the cost to prepare each facility, estimated by industry sources, at around $200,000 each.

A number of independent dealers, however, are said to now be experiencing difficulty funding the required preparatory work.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com