Because of the fact that in the first six months of the year Guatemala's oil bill totaled $1,440 million, 6% more than what was reported in the same period in 2018, businessmen in the sector project a rise in sales at the end of 2019.
Figures from the General Directorate of Hydrocarbons (DGH) of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), specify that between the first half of 2018 and the same period of 2019, the amount of the oil bill, which includes the cost of importing oil derivatives such as gasoline, diesel, bunker, asphalt, kerosine, butane, gas, petcoke, among others, increased by $78 million, going from $1,362 million to $1,440 million.
Due to the upward cycle of the barrel international price, between January and August the country has bought $1.844 million in petroleum products, 22% more than in the same period of 2017.
Regarding this growth in the import amount, Enrique Melendez, executive director of the Guatemalan Association of Gasoline Dispensers, explained to Prensalibre.com that "...
Alba Petróleos de El Salvador, daughter company of PDVSA, is no longer importing from Venezuela the fuel it sells in the country, doing so instead from the United States.
EDITORIAL
Removal of market rules in order to achieve political objectives, always has an inevitable expiration date.This is what is happening with the alleged exportation of the so-called Bolivarian revolution, through Venezuela's contribution of oil and its derivatives to economies with apparently similarly minded governments.While it is true that the current Maduro government still has the loyalty in diplomatic terms of some Latin American and Caribbean governments, which has prevented his condemnation through international organisms, in the economic sphere relations with these allies are cooling off without remedy.
The state run oil company in Costa Rica registered losses above $24 million during the first nine months of 2015, despite having the highest prices in the region.
In the first nine months of 2015 the Costa Rican Oil Refinery lost more than $24 million. The state run company, which has had a monopoly in refining and sale of fuels in Costa Rica for more than half a century, has payroll costs representing 56% of its total expenditure.
The accreted political left in Costa Rica is proposing that the oil bill that is being run up now, be paid for in the future by other generations.
EDITORIAL
Proposed by a legislative faction of the Frente Amplio party, the possible accession of Costa Rica to the oil alliance created by Venezuela, will not lower fuel prices automatically, but because of how the agreement works, it will mean financing oil purchases at rates that are just a little better than the current cost, simply to keep on increasing government debt, not to mention the political implications that could come from such a close relationship with the government of Venezuela.
There is still no official information about whether brand name distributors will be able to keep importing fuel from their source of choice.
The request for entry into the oil agreement with Venezuela marks the economic and political differences between the outgoing government of Mauricio Funes and that of the new President Sanchez Ceren, indicating a higher affinity for the conglomerate led by Venezuela.
The government points to Venezuela's lack of definition in maintaining funding conditions and for this reason has decided not to continue buying oil through the system.
Honduras follows in the steps of Guatemala, whose government gave up, for the same reasons, the option to join the oil alliance. The Honduran union will ensure that the supply is assured.
The strategies for El Salvador to enter into Petrocaribe include the creation of a state run company for importing and marketing petroleum products.
Elmundo.com.sv reports that "José Luis Merino , FMLN leader and senior advisor to Alba Petroleos in El Salvador, says the party does not have an agreement model to join Petrocaribe, in the case that they win the presidential election next year. "
In a few weeks there will be an announcement of the arrival of the first shipment from Petrocaribe, but there are still no buyers interested in the fuel.
According to the coordinator of the Energy Cabinet, María Antonieta Guillén, "next week the scope will be defined somewhat, after which perhaps in the last week of August and first week of September there could be a shipment of fuel which Honduras would receive ".
The conditions in Petrocaribe will never be the same: the new government of Venezuela will change preferential credit terms for the purchase of oil.
This was explained by the Vice President of Guatemala Roxana Baldetti, who has already met with representatives of Petrocaribe. "Back then, the conditions were the sale of up to 20 thousand barrels per day, of which 40% of the value would be paid in 90 days and the remainder within 25 years, with a rate of 1%. Same as offered to Honduras, reported Laprensa.hn.
In the first half of the year, the oil bill reached $1,798 million, an increase of $490 million compared to the same period in 2010.
A rise in international oil prices coupled with an increase in gasoline consumption accounts for much of the country’s increased oil bill.
Gasoline consumption, particularly diesel, rose by 0.6% in the aforementioned period, while consumption of bunker fuel, used to supply ships, rose by 9%.
In the first 6 months of 2011, the country imported $1.563 billion in oil, 39% more than in the same period in 2010.
According to data from the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) in the same months in 2010 the country spent $1.123 million in this area.
The import of of petroleum products so far in 2011 is equivalent to $8.5 million per day.
An article in Prensalibre.com notes: "The MEM reported that consumption of petroleum products in the first six months of the year grew by 6.2 percent compared to the same period last year.