No inferior fuel from BNOCL – chairman

There is nothing wrong with the quality of fuel which is being imported by the Barbados National Oil Company Limited (BNOCL).

This was made clear yesterday by the company’s chairman Alex McDonald, who said the company had received no complaints from other entities which had used the same fuel as the Barbados Light and Power (BL&P).

Following two days of islandwide power outages, the BL&P’s managing director Roger Blackman blamed the blackouts on contaminated fuel. It was reported that new streams of phenol and aldehydes were found in the fuel and had caused the problems.

Alex McDonald

However, speaking during a press conference yesterday at Ilaro Court, McDonald maintained that BNOCL was not importing “inferior” fuel. He said the BNOCL had been importing fuel from two companies, Novum and Vitol, for some time without any issues.

“The light and power’s machinery is intolerant to the fuel that is being used. The spec had changed a bit and we have constantly maintained a spec that the light and power has asked us for. What we are trying to do now is to work with the light and power to deliver the fuel without the phenols that have been added to that fuel.

“So we have to be careful that there is not an impression that the BNOCL is bringing an inferior quality of fuel. It is a different type of fuel, but light and power is now saying that this spec is not good for our machines,” McDonald explained.

“The fact that it can be used to burn in the other machines means clearly that it is a usable fuel.”

McDonald said since 1983 the BNTCL [Barbados National Terminal Oil Company Limited] had been bringing “high quality, dependable fuel” for everyone.

He said while they had brought in “hundreds of shipments” this particular shipment was the first which had been questioned.