Fuel prices go up again before elections
There was another hike in fuel prices over the weekend, the second in two weeks. The price increase for premium gasoline was the smallest, going up by five cents to eleven dollars and sixty-three cents. Regular, however, is up eighteen cents and is now selling for eleven dollars and thirty cents per gallon. The biggest increase was in the price of Diesel, which shot up by twenty-five cents to ten dollars and seventy cents.
We NEED TO BUILD A REFINERY…or WE WILL ALWAYS BE SUBJECTED TO THIS.
WE DO NOT IMPORT ORANGE JUICE…WHY DO WE NEED TO IMPORT GAS???
BUILD A REFINERY TODAY…FOR A BETTER TOMORROW.
BUILD A REFINERY AND … WE WILL CONTROL OUR FUTURE!!!
Electricity Water Phone will go up after elections, when UDP they will have to pay for the utilities and will have to borrow to do so.
Refinery or not,the pup and Udp lawfirm don’t care about belizeans.
@Earl, I fully support your idea. I am not versed on the contracts given to the oil companies, because I live abroad, however from what I’ve understand is that the benefits tip in favor of the oil companies and the contract are binding. However I do believe that the government of the day, whether PUP or UDP, should make an addendum to the contract to mandate that they facilitate the construction of a refinery. For Belize being a oil producing country, the prices that citizens pay at the pump is insane.
Earl Grey If you do not understand the industry then i suggest that you keep your comments to yourself. Belize has not the population, expertise, finances, and most importantly the Oil Proven Reserves to Build a refinery. global investors will not build a refinery simply because we do not have the population to sustain one. their is no shortage of clean fuel on the global so the need to build a new refinery is not their. the last refinery was built in the 1980’s Blue Sky does not consitute as a refinery. As for you AnnonBelizean, your versitily of the english language suggest that you are right at home in belize. An Oil Refinery is not the answer, peace in the middle, we should remember that oil prices are not controled at home the are controled by the world market. it would not make economic sense to build one. the country would loose more than it would gain, and belizeans on a whole would suffer more. now i don’t think that we want that.
@Earl Grey and AnnnonBelizean, and who exactly will invest in a refinery to serve the (tiny) local market? Just so that if they happen to become profitable and GOB needs to honor some hair-brained manifesto pledge, then some ‘independent’ regulator will strangle them and provide a pretex for GOB to take them over, not pay, and enshrine it in the constitution? Investors did not become rich by being idiots.
FYI…a number of people around Belize have built small refineries that work. If we do not use all that we refine, we can sell on the world market. ANYONE OPPOSED TO REFINING has a vested interest in HOLDING BELIZE BACK, or part of the oil company.
WE DO NOT IMPORT ORANGE JUICE….WHY IMPORT GAS???????
BUILD A REFINERY AND WE CAN CONTROL OUR DESTINY…our FUTURE!!!
and BY THE WAY…IT’S HIGH TIME TO GET RID OF THE OIL CARTEL…OPEC!!!
WE TRY TO GET RID OF THE DRUG CARTELS…now it’s TIME FOR THE OIL CARTELS TO GO…. THEY ARE HOLDING THE WORLD HOSTAGE!!!
well if belize market too small to refine the fuel here, there refine only what we will use and export
the other half. But the price is rediculos. I wont be able to buy my car!
@Head Strong, it is a fact that I am not in Belize, have not been for the past 17 years. Since you felt it necessary to point out my use of the English Language, (yes English should be capitalized since in this case it is a proper noun) then let me school you for a second. The use of the word versatility, (I am assuming this is the word you meant to use, not what you worte since it is spelled incorrectly) is incorrect, because the definition is having a wide variety of skills, or several uses, so you are using the word out of context. Also the correct spelling is controlled.
@Earl Grey, perhaps u missed my point. My point is that the actions of this government has poisoned the investment climate, and progress requires investment. FYI I’m very familiar with oil refining, and small scale refining is very rarely economic unless product quality (and the longevity of your vehicle engine) does not matter to you. Large scale refining to use and export on the other hand DOES makes of sense. But it will take INVESTMENT. GOB don’t have it, believe you me. So again I repeat, where will it come from???
out with this gov. they are pocketing the money for their families medical bills.
There is not enough Oil in Belize to refine.
Belize produces X amount of unrefined oil, ie crude.
Belize needs X+Y amount of Refined oil. Yes, Refined oil turned into products like gasoline, diesel, etc.
X Crude is not equal to X+Y amount refined product. It cannot be. When refining crude we get less amount of refined product than the total amount of crude that went in to be refined in the first place. Logic. X crude after refining will be X – Z where Z is all the parts of crude extracted that we cannot use in refined products.
Thus we cannot refine because we need more refined product than we can produce.
We cannot refine because refine is an expensive activity.
Thus we need to import from outside.
Head Strong”! i dont think you know what your taulking about.
I myself have biuld a small refinary and I can produce Diesel, cerosine and Casoline.
I could biuld the same on a biger scall and it will work. the only problem is We cant do it because we are being shot down. the only reason I see is because the goverment can not colect the tax on the fuel thy import, and woudnt know wheir to colect the money from.
Thats why it is imposible to build a refinary. But as for Me and many other’s we could easely build a refinary. if only we wheir allowed to!
Henry, u also have a cracker in your refinery? Hydro or FCC? If FCC, where do u get your catalyst from? I’m genuinely curious. A basic crude distillation column cannot produce gasoline, that requires either hydro or catalytic cracking.
On another note, no matter what we build and what we produce, if we sell below market prices we are subsidizing, which entails a cost (the cost being the profits missed by not selling at market rates). U get the same end result if GOB instead collects adequate taxes on producers and then subsidizes fuel prices at the pump (e.g. by reducing taxes on distributors). If GOB builds refinery, they must pay for it from taxpayer money or by borrowing and then repaying with taxpayer money, unless they run it for a decent profit which would entail….guess what….market prices at the pump. Sorry folks, there’s no free lunch.
So, present oil companies will not profit from the locally produced fuels. So, they will pull out – retail outlets and all. So, do we then nationalize retail outlets??????