Jamaica Gas Prices

It is now official, the Special Consumption Tax(SCT) on Gas products is to be increased by $8.75 per litre. The  Finance and Public Service Minister of Jamaica, Audley Shaw, announced the increase in parliament today.

Many gas stations, in Kingston were swamped with motorist trying to get the ‘last’ of the cheap gas. There was no such rush according to radio reports in the rest of the country.

The data below shows how the situation changes when this tax comes into place on April 2009, using the ex-refinery price of Unleaded 87 for April 23, 2009. 

Current Situation

Ex-Refinery Before Tax: $44.17

Current Tax: $7.36
Ex-Refinery After Tax: $51.53

With Tax increase:

Ex-Refinery Before Tax: $44.17
New Tax: $16.11 (7.36 + 8.75)
Ex-Refinery After Tax: $60.28

As usual gas stations will their respective margins.  

Now that the gas tax increases have been announced, it is hoped that Jamaicans will either accept the decision or if so moved, lodge their protest in a peaceful manner. One simply protest is to boycott the product as far as possible or simply conserve. Time will tell whether or not Jamaica will face similar Gas Riot to those of 1985 and 1999.

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

PetroJam has announced that this week, motorist will get a break from the rising petrol prices. Indeed  87 and 90 octane remain basically flat, while diesel decreased by about JMD $0.50. On the world market the price of Oil has fallen from its high of USD $135 per barrel to the low USD $120s.

Some analyst beleive that point has reached where motorist especially in the USA are becoming resistant to the higher prices as the fund. In Jamaica we have already seen that the demand for petrol has fallen off by 10% with predictions for this to worsen in the summer period.

It now seems that the tipping point has been reached and Jamaicans are now reducing their expenditure at the pumps. The Jamaica Gasoline Retailers Association president, Errol Edwards,  reports that in recent times there has been a 5-7% reduction is the amount of gas being sold. He is more than right in blaming the high gasoline prices for this reduction.

On a day when Oil prices rose to a new high of US$127 per barrel of Oil, Jamaicans are evidently finding the high prices troubling.  Jamaican consumers are also being hit with higher food, transport, water and energy costs.

There are projections that the price of Oil could average $141 for 2008, with some analysts predicting Oil Prices of US$200 per barrel.  Jamaican consumers will now have to make every effort to conserve.