KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – The fuel situation at SOL-operated gas stations here is expected to improve after the intervention of Minister of Land Transport, Sen. Julian Francis.
Francis stepped into to negotiate the sale of fuel to Sol by its competitor Rubis after initial attempts to do so failed.
Steve Francis, manager of SOL in St. Vincent, told I-Witness News Tuesday night that his company is expecting a shipment of fuel on Friday.
The company has said on Monday that it was expecting a shipment yesterday. It also said Monday that it has run out of diesel and had a “limited” supply of gasoline.
“We attempted to purchase diesel and gasoline from Rubis considering our wide distribution network which serves eight geographically spread service stations on the mainland, but without success. “However, Senator, Hon. Julian Francis, Minister of Transport, intervened and was able to get Rubis to sell us some product; we appreciate the Minister’s timely intervention,” the SOL executive told I-Witness News Tuesday night.
“Rubis has a ship arriving on Wednesday (today) and ours will arrive on Friday. We therefore anticipate an improvement in national distribution of fuel from tomorrow (today) as our network will be able to supply fuel, especially diesel, and alleviate the distress faced by consumers throughout the country,” Francis further said.
The situation at SOL resulted from industrial action at Petrotrin, in Trinidad, the supplier of the company’s fuel.
A Rubis employee told I-Witness News on Monday that her company has seen increased sales and had a “very regular” supply of fuel.
However, the lack of fuel at Sol has led to motorists having to queue up at some service stations across the country, even as one North Leeward resident told I-Witness News that fuel has not been available at the service station there for the past three weeks.