there will be no today fuel load in Uruguay due to a decision of the Union of Fuel Transporters (UTC) from the situation of conflict that remains between the union of the National Administration of Fuel, Alcohol and Portland (Ancap) and the directory of the state oil company – by the association of private to the business of portland.
Two days after the refinery the tile goes into technical shutdown for scheduled maintenance, and while Ancap Federation (Fancap) continues in its resolution not to perform overtime —which could even triple the time required for tasks at the plant and, therefore, also their cost— the UTC resolved don’t load the trucks this saturday. As explained by the union leader Óscar Benavides, it is a measure that is usually taken by protocol when there are delays during the week in the loading of fuel trucks “so as not to make a accumulation of working hours”.
“The cargo is delayed during the week and they want to take it out on Saturday,” claimed the carrier, in dialogue with Underlined. “They are solving the problems with our time. We are not willing to put our time”, he narrowed.
Benavides indicated that truckers have limited working hours and in the case of those who have to travel inland and travel longer distances, they must spend the night where they comply with the schedule. “It transforms the Logistics a headache, not only for us but for those who give the trips,” he said, adding that they are not willing “to be thrown around for reasons that we have nothing to do with.”
The UTC leader assured that the measure of not entering the plant on Saturdays when delays occur during the week is applied not only for union measures of Ancap, but also when they register plant failure.
In any case, Benavides ruled out that the measure produces fuel shortages. “There was an important forecast before the rise and there is an important stock in the market, so it will not be missing,” he assured.
Ancap’s back is finished
He Executive power decided the second rise in fuels so far this year, which is in force as of yesterday in all Uruguay, and the president of Ancap, Alejandro Sitpanicic, warned that the state oil company will no longer be able to contain the increase in prices if the international reference values continue to rise.
As of today, gasoline and diesel are more expensive at the pumps, although still below what the report from Import Parity Prices (PPI) prepared by the Regulatory Unit for Energy and Water Services (Ursea). As in most of the year, Ancap absorbed part of the difference in the international price of oil and derivatives and the value transferred to final consumers.
However, the president of the oil company, Stipanicic, pointed out that this intervention by the state company to moderate the current rise in fuels —more than half in the case of gasoline and a part in the case of diesel— could have been the last . “Unfortunately, from Ancap we can no longer contribute more to the international price containmentto moderate the increases” in fuels, said the chief.
He recalled that in 23 months there are more descents and maintenance rise in fuel prices. “The financial back of Ancap operated a lot in that, and now we are not going to have it for a while,” said the president of the oil company, referring to the fact that the subsidy in the pumps was thanks to the extraordinary refinery margin from the main plant the tilewhich will be in a scheduled technical stop from next Monday, for a time that the authorities cannot yet determine due to the union conflict with the guild.
In this sense, if oil and its derivatives continue to increase in the reference international markets —a usual dynamic of prices during the second semester—, it is very likely that this increase will also be felt in the Uruguayan pocket.
“If we expected to be recovering cash in December, now we estimate in February. This exhausted the financial back of Ancap”, assured Stipanicic.
Source: Ambito
