Irrespective of a possible war breaking out in Iraq, The Bahamas is pretty much okay in terms of its oil supply. President of The Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association, (BPRA) Garnet Dawkins said even the embargo placed on Iraq by the United States has not affected the supply and demand of gasoline in The Bahamas.
“I don’t think it will be a big problem if they were to stop production of oil in Iraq,” Mr. Dawkins told The Guardian on Wednesday. “When and if war breaks out, I don’t see it affecting our oil supply, but in terms of the economy, I believe some retail businesses will suffer.”
Mr. Dawkins said that he believes shipment costs for gasoline to The Bahamas as well as gasoline prices will not be affected for now. Furthermore, production and supply of oil will continue to flow even as it did during the Gulf War.
The BPRA President said a tremendous downturn in the economy could possibly be one of the major consequences, should war take place in Iraq.
Iraq is one of the largest oil producing countries in the world. Any disturbance in the region could have a powerful impact on the supply and production of oil.
Presently, most of The Bahamas’ oil supply is obtained from the island of Curacao and according to Mr. Dawkins, this supply will not be affected immediately.
“If there is problem with the supply of oil coming from out of the Middle East, then it is a supply problem,” Mr. Dawkins said. “But in terms of the economy, our biggest fear is that whenever there is a downturn in the economy, then the petroleum industry will be affected because the price of gasoline will go up.”
In Curacao, crude oil is refined into gasoline. Curacao is one of the largest producers of oil in the South America region.
When questioned about concerns the Association had about satisfactory profit margins for retailers, Dawkins said no request had been made lately for additional margin increases.
“However, one of the biggest request and concerns that we in the Petroleum Industry have is the moratorium on the service stations,” he said. “What we are faced with is, there are a lot of oil companies that are trying to build new stations and what it does is, that there are only a certain amount of cars that we have here on the island and whenever there is a new site that comes on line, the whole industry suffers because of the delusion of the volume.”
He said that despite this observation, the oil companies are still able to manoeuver around the Association and somehow get to build and open up new service stations.
Mr. Dawkins stated that this in turn forces those who are already in business to close down as competition may prove to be too fierce when the new stations open.
“A lot of these business persons lose their life savings.
The oil companies are not going to lose. The retailers are the ones who are going to lose because they are the ones putting up the investment,” he explained.
“When the volumes are not what the oil company expects, what they do is get rid of the dealer and bring somebody else in,” he added.”
Mr. Dawkins, operator of Shell at Carmichael and Blue Hill Roads, feels that the moratorium should not be lifted and that the Government should ensure that it stays into effect.
By Lisa Albury, The Nassau Guardian
