Haiti's fuel supplies crippled by political unrest

Market: Oil products
12/03/24

Fuel supplies in Haiti have reached "a dangerously low level" because of continuing political unrest and violence in the Caribbean country, petrol station owners' federation Anapross told Argus.

Many retail stations have run out of supplies and others have been looted of what is available, and the situation is fueling a growing black market, it said.

The unrest has also disrupted feedstock supplies to the country's power sector, increasing the frequency and length of blackouts that have traditionally plagued the country.

Both independent power producers that burn diesel and state-owned power utility EdH that backs up its hydropower plants with oil-fired generators have been hurt, Anapross said.

The unrest has also interrupted access to the 43mn US gallon Varreux fuel terminal through which about 70pc of the country's supplies are imported, it said.

Haiti produces no crude or natural gas and has no refinery. The country imports products from the US to meet demand of 60,000 b/d, according to official figures.

The unrest is led by the G9 gang led by Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, who has been demanding the resignation of prime minister Ariel Henry.

Henry resigned yesterday, Guyana's president Irfaan Ali told a summit of regional trade group Caricom in Kingston that discussed the situation in Haiti.

A transitional presidential council has been established which will be responsible for naming an interim prime minister ahead of a national election to determine a new head of government, Ali said.

"But there is no guarantee that Henry's resignation will bring an early end to the violence and a resolution to the country's unrest," a Caribbean diplomat who left Haiti last week because of the violence told Argus today.

"There is no indication that the gangs that are in charge in many parts of the country will quietly retire," the source said. "We expect further demands from them."

The fuel shortage has also led to increased smuggling from the Dominican Republic that shares a border with Haiti, the Dominican energy ministry told Argus.

Border crossing are being policed "as the government is concerned that the smuggling could lead to shortages and higher prices from a black market here," it said. "But it is difficult to eliminate this problem."

By Canute James

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