The company AES Panama launched its liquefied natural gas storage system in the province of Colon, from where it plans to supply the entire Central American region.
This liquefied natural gas (LNG) distribution system will supply the 381 MW thermal plant located on site, also owned by AES, which began operating in August 2018.
This week the company CLH Aviación started providing fuel supply services at Tocumen air terminal in Panama.
After having won the tender to supply fuel and lubricants at Tocumen International Airport and regional terminals in 2017 for a period of 120 months, the company CLH Aviación stated that it has successfully started providing operations and maintenance servicesand supplying fuel at the air terminal.
In the Panamanian airport, 600 thousand gallons of jet fuel are consumed every day, and it is estimated that in the following months demand will increase by 50 thousand gallons.
The current capacity of the infrastructure only allows for storage of 1.4 million gallons of jet fuel, which is only enough to cover demand corresponding to two days of operations at the airport.
The Panamanian Supreme Court of Justice has revoked the resolution that had approved the environmental impact study to build an oil pipeline that would supply fuel to Tocumen airport.
The ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice comes just a few days after the same institution received aninjunction against a project to build a port terminal on Isla Margarita, Colón, with an estimated investment of $600 million. Also annulled by the Court, in mid-January, was an EIA to set up a150 MW wind farm, which was to be built in the Fortuna forest reserve.
In the first nine months of the year, 2.8 million barrels of marine fuel were sold, 38% more than was sold in the same period in 2016.
According to figures from the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP), the sale of marine fuel during the first three quarters of 2017 increased by 38% in year-on-year terms, rising from 2 million barrels between January and September 2016 to 2.8 million barrels in the same period in 2017.
In the first half of the year 2.4 million metric tons of marine fuel were shipped into the country's port terminals, 24% more than in the same period in 2016.
The start of operations of the expanded Canal is the main reason behind the increase of almost 24% in the sale of marine fuel to boats in Panamanian ports, according to representatives from the sector. Figures from the Panama Maritime Authority report that between January and June, 2.4 million metric tons of marine fuel were traded, 461 thousand tons more than in the first half of last year.
Consorcio Menzies Aviation, CLH Aviación S.A., Consorcio Allied Aviatión, and Consorcio Latam and Aviation Logistics submitted bids in the tender to supply aviation fuel at Tocumen International Airport.
From a statement issued by Tocumen International Airport:
Panama, July 31, 2017. Tocumen International Airport held on Monday an act to receive technical and economic proposals from companies interested in supplying lubricant and jet fuel.
The consortium FCC and Felguera IHI won the contract to build an oil storage terminal belonging to the Dutch company Vopak in Bahia Las Minas, province of Colon.
From a statement issued by FCC Construction:
The new terminal will be located next to the existing Chevron terminal of 509,000 mbc (thousand of barrels of crude) in Panama.It will have nine storage tanks for marine oil, fuel oil and clean petroleum products (diesel, gasoline and Jet A) with a total capacity of approximately 360,000 m3.The project also includes new tank, additional marine infrastructure, including the construction of wharves for mooring vessels up to 80,000 DWT (deadweight tons).
Price of gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.94, Nicaragua $3.47, Honduras $3.43, Guatemala $2.89, El Salvador $2.86 y Panama $2.70.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador:
The volatility of international prices of products (gasoline and diesel) in the oil market persists, being the main factor affecting reference prices for fuels.It is worth noting that as final consumers we should be aware that the instability of oil prices andtheir fluctuations are permanent factors, making assertions and predictions about future prices unpredictable, however in the current fortnight trends in international prices have been caused by the following events:
In a joint venture with Global SLI, the company specializing in VTTI energy storage acquired a 75% stake in the Petroamérica terminal on the Pacific coast.
From a press release issued by VTTI:
VTTI B.V. (“VTTI”), the global independent provider of energy storage, today announces an acquisition of a 230,000 m³ facility in Panama, resulting in a joint venture between VTTI and Global SLI.
Price of gallon of regular gasoline: $2.51, Guatemala $2.79, El Salvador $2.74, Honduras $3.15, Nicaragua $3.32, and Costa Rica, $3.82.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador:
The rise in prices of oil products has been affected by a weakening of the dollar as a currency, as well as fires in Canada, instability in the region producing oil and its derivatives in Nigeria; and a series of suspensions of operations at refineries over fears of a possible hurricane heading towards the Gulf of Mexico, and added to this are supply disruptions in different parts of the world which have elevated international prices causing instability, confirming the volatility in the oil market, leading to abrupt price changes which are becoming impossible to predict, directly hitting the reference prices of liquid fuels in El Salvador.
Total fuel storage capacity in the country is 29.8 million barrels, with Petroterminal de Panama´s tank representing 50% of the figure.
Panama has a storage capacity of 29.8 million barrels of oil, according to the latest report from the country's National Energy Secretariat.
The Fuel Free Zone (ZLC by its initials in Spanish) Petroterminal de Panama occupies almost half of the total capacity, through its two tank estates: Charco Azul in Chiriqui, which has a capacity of 7.5 million barrels, and Chiriqui Grande in Bocas del Toro, with a capacity of 7 million barrels. Both store oil and oil derivatives.
Construction has been announced of 9 additional storage tanks and a pier with two berths to supply 2.5 million barrels.
From a statement issued by the National Secretariat of Energy in Panama:
The sale of marine fuel or bunkering, an activity that generates about $900 million a year to the country's economy, will grow with the expanding operations of the Free Zone for Fuels, located in Bahía Las Minas, Colon Province.
Price of a gallon of regular gasoline: Panama $2.34, El Salvador $2.48, Guatemala $2.44, Nicaragua and Honduras, $3.17 and Costa Rica, $3.77.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador:
New variations with a downward trend which occurred in this week, are due to the significant drop in prices of derivatives and oil, which are caused by the results of the latest OPEC meeting, where member countries reached an agreement on a maximum ceiling for oil production and maintaining the overabundance of supply, coupled with the fact that Iran will join the market next year, once the West has removed the sanctions that it imposed sanctions over its nuclear program. These factors lead to oversupply causing a decline in reference prices.
Price of a gallon of regular gasoline: $2.49 Panama, El Salvador $2.60, $2.62 Guatemala, Nicaragua $3.22 Honduras $3.26 , Costa Rica $3.78.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Economy and Trade of El Salvador:
El Salvador is in first place with the lowest gasoline prices and in second place for lowest diesel prices in Central America.
The Ministry of Economy announced on October 26 that the reference prices for gasoline, effective from October 27 to November 9, 2015, will experience reductions of up to - $0.05, it is worth mentioning that this is the seventh consecutive reduction in prices of regular and special gasoline ; while diesel has once again registered a slight decrease.