Energy Minister, Phillip Paulwell, is conceding that his Ministry blundered when it asserted that the state-owned oil refinery, Petrojam has for the past two weeks been selling petrol to retailers well below 90-dollars per litre.
The statement was contained in a media release issued on Wednesday.
There has been controversy regarding whether it’s retailers or Petrojam who’re guilty of not ensuring that the fall in global oil prices are fully passed on to consumers.
A statement from Paulwell’s Energy Ministry on Wednesday criticized some retailers for not passing on the fall in oil prices.
The statement said – “already the state owned refinery over the past two weeks has been selling the product at well below 90 dollars to the marketing companies, while the cost of gas at the pumps has lingered over the 1-hundred-dollar mark”
Checks by Nationwide News of Petrojam’s website indicated that some of that information was not correct, as the state-owed company only began selling the product below 90-dollars per litre yesterday.
Contacted this afternoon, Mr. Paulwell admitted his Ministry had supplied the incorrect information.
Phillip Paulwell says error was made
Only days ago the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica, PSOJ, accused Petrojam of not passing on the price increases to marketing companies.
The PSOJ suggested that Petrojam was in part culpable for consumers not feeling the full effect at the pumps, of the fall in oil prices .
Mr. Paulwell says he’s satisfied Petrojam is operating above board.
