Jamaica Gas Prices

A shortage of E10, seems to be affecting the Jamaican Petroleum trade and fustrating tanker drivers, services stations and motorists. E10 was official introduced to the Jamaican Market on November 1, 2008  a suggested price roughly JM $2 cheaper than unleaded 87.  On Monday, November 24, 2008, fire struck and destroyed the ethanol cooling tower at PetroJam Refinery. This forced the goverment of Jamaica go overseas for ethanol to power the local trade. It is understood that by February, the cooling tower should be back in operation. In the meanwhile it appears a shortage has developed.

In the week ending December 20, 2008, Jamaica’s Minister of Energy, Clive Mullings, acknowledge that there was a shortage of the product due most in part to the strong demand of E10.  According to one report, the Minister said that, with some 62 service stations providing the fuel, demand has grown to as much as 8,000 barrels per week far exceeding expectations. President of the Jamaica Gasoline Retailers Association, Trevor Barnes, while agreeing that there was a strong demand, pointed fingers at the inadequate loading bay facilities at the refinery and urged the MInister to do something about the matter.

On December 22, 2008, Radio Jamaica reported that there were problems with a malfunctioning pump that at PetroJam that left tanker drivers fuming unable to get E10 after waiting hours. Hopefully all the issues wil be resolved soon as promised by the energy minister in a Gleaner/Power 106 news report of December 23, 2008.

In that news item, Mr Mullings says Petrojam is not experiencing a supply problem, but a problem with the pace at which the fuel is being loaded. He says the ministry has installed a larger motor and has also corrected the problems, which have led to the delays.

We now will wait and see.

Sources: 

• E10 supply hits snag
• Shortage of E10 gasoline to be alleviated
• Mullings promises to eliminate E10 shortage

As usual the Jamaica Gas Prices team continue to work to improve the site little by little. Firstly let me apologise for the slow updates, we am working to improve this.

E10 data available
This week we add the E10 average, high, low prices to the reports page, see http://jamaicagasprices.com.jm/reports.php. With more and more stations now carrying E10 this information becomes more useful.

You can find the stations carrying E10 here.

We would also remind you to visit the other areas of the site including the Forum.

There is a very interesting topic in the forum, “Is Petrojam taking us for a ride?” which makes good reading.

As usual we encourage you to keep submitting gas prices and letting your friends know about this site. Thanks to those who tirelessly continue to supply the gas prices.

Roleli

It appears that more service stations are carrying E10 in Jamaica. Joining the list of stations are Texaco and Shell Stations in Cross Roads and Liguanea respectively. (Click here to see our current list with prices)

This will be good news to the ears of the Jamaican Minister of Energy, Clive Mullings,  who last week was concerned that some marketing companies where not pushing forward with carrying E10.

Do you know of other stations carrying E10? Remember to submit this and the other prices at our submission page

Related:

• E10 doing well so far.

November 1, 2008 was the date when E10 became offical available to Jamaicans. So far, based on feedback sales appear to be going well at stations that are carrying the products. It appears the Jamaican motorists has embraced the product but not so some marketing companies.

So far based on information we have only the some locally based marketing companies seem to be carrying E10. Petcom and Unipet seem to be leading the way. A Jamaica Information Service article quotes the Energy Minister Clive Mullings as saying,

“If anything, the other marketing companies should have got on board much more quickly, because it is creating pressure on Petcom, Multipet and Unipet because their loads are finishing quite quickly and they have to be getting other truckloads because of the pressure on their system”.

I have not used E10 yet, but based on queries by old 1991 Nissan Sentra should be able to use E10 with no problems. I see the long lines at Petcom and Unipet on Slipe Road creating serious traffic congestion.

The article also stated that about 11 stations are now supplying E10, 8 Petcom stations, 4 Unipet stations and 1 Multipet STation.

Remember to submit your E10 prices, along with other Gasoline prices and tell us about your experience getting E10.

Source:   JIS Article on E10 doing well

E10 is here and will be officailly launched on November 1, 2008. This week Petrojam released the ex-refinery price of E10 which is $53.93 per litre.

What is E10

According to the PetroJam website, E10 is gasoline blended with 10% ethanol. Ethanol contains oxygen which raises the octane level of gasoline to prevent engine knocking.

Ethanol may be produced in Jamaica from available products such as sugar cane biomass and other agricultural feedstock. However it is understood that initially most if not all of the Ethanol will be produced from feedstock imported from Brasil.

The Petrom website also claims that Ethanol can help to maximize the performance and acceleration potential asit allows gasoline to burn cleaner thereby reducing tailpipe emissions.

E10 will be available at a number of stations and a complete list can be found on the PetroJan’s website. As soon as E10 prices are available they will be displayed.

Sources

• Stations to deliver E10