Seventy gas stations in Guanajuato will import gasoline from Texas to meet demand amid severe fuel shortages, the state governor has announced.
Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo told a press conference that so far only Mobil service stations have brought fuel to Guanajuato from Texas, but other brands that until now have only been supplied by the state oil company are taking steps so that they can do the same.
One private company with 45 gas stations in the state is on the verge of signing a deal with a Texas supplier, Rodríguez said, and another with 19 stations is also at the tail end of negotiations with a United States company.
He declined to name the companies that are in negotiations, explaining that they had requested that information not be made public until they finalize their deals.
The French oil firm Total, which has six gas stations in Guanajuato, will also import gasoline from Texas via rail, the governor said, with the first shipment due to arrive on Wednesday.
Rodríguez also said that authorities are in talks with Mobil aimed at having the company increase its import volumes and operate 24 hours a day to meet the demand for gasoline.
“Today [Monday] a Mobil railroad tank car arrived, on Wednesday Total’s will arrive. We’re waiting for the 45 gas stations to settle [their deal] as well as the other 19 . . . Soon we’ll [have] . . . more fuel but I also call on the federal government to quickly resolve the gasoline shortage,” he said.
Rodríguez added that he was in favor of taking action to combat fuel theft but “we cannot stop demanding that the federal government supply gasoline.”
The solution to the shortage problem, the governor said, is not bringing fuel into the state on trains but to open the Salamanca-Irapuato pipeline, which was closed as part of the government’s anti-fuel theft strategy.
Rodríguez said that he will ask the federal Secretariat of Finance to provide tax incentives to affected companies and a special economic plan for Guanajuato because losses associated with the fuel shortage in the state will run into the millions of pesos.
A recent survey found that just 80 of 600 gas stations in the state were operating.
President López Obrador today praised Rodríguez’s efforts to get more gasoline to Guanajuato, declaring that “he’s helping” and that “the sooner supply in that state and the entire country is reestablished, the better.”
However, he ruled out making tax incentives available to affected companies.
Source: Milenio (sp), El Financiero (sp)
