The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Sir Franklyn Wilson yesterday said he was “shocked” and “amazed” by assertions from a Government regulator that consumers are being short-changed at 50 per cent of the Bahamas’ gasoline pumps.

The FOCOL Holdings chairman said he was unaware of the Bahamas Bureau of Standards and Quality (BBSQ) findings, but emphasised that neither his firm - nor any other oil industry player - would seek to deliberately cheat the Bahamian public.

“I’ve never heard that before. I’m shocked,” Sir Franklyn told Tribune Business of findings that were revealed by the Bureau’s director, Dr Renae Ferguson-Bufford, at last week’s Chamber-organised energy conference.

“What can I say. I’m amazed,” added the chairman of the Bahamas’ shell distributor. “I’m positive that we have no policy to cheat the public, and I don’t think any other company would have that policy.

“I can’t tell you more than that. Whatever it is, there’s no intent. I’m positive that would be the view of anyone in the industry. No one intends to cheat the public.”

Sir Franklyn said he was unable to say more, given that he had “no idea what research” the Standards Bureau had conducted, and how it had arrived at its findings and conclusions.

“I couldn’t agree more; you should get what you pay for. There’s certainly no intent from us other than for people to get what they paid for,” he told Tribune Business.

“No reputable company, as a matter of corporate policy, seeks to rob the public. It’s not they way.”

Dr Ferguson-Bufford gave little insight into her findings at last week’s conference other than the headline ‘50 per cent’ figure, and there was no mention of the gas stations and companies where consumers were not receiving the volume of gasoline they were paying for.

Disclosing the Bureau’s ‘rip-off’ findings, she said an inspection of fuel stations by the Bureau had found only half of the pumps measured volumes accurately.

“What we had found is that 50 per cent of the pumps were actually accurate. When inspectors when out to the pumps and, let’s say, they inspected four, only two were found to be in compliance with what is required,” Dr Ferguson-Bufford said.

“We have three major service providers, and we’re talking about all of them; we’re not targeting one over the other. We found issues with all of them. We have work to do. We found deficiencies.

“We spoke to them, and they got their technicians to deal with the issue right away. You should get what you pay for.”

The Bahamas has three major fuel providers - Sol Petroleum/Esso (Bahamas); Rubis/Texaco (Bahamas) and Freeport Oil Company (FOCOL)/ Shell.

The oil/gasoline industry has subsequently been tight-lipped on the Bureau’s findings, with retail dealers contacted by Tribune Business referring this newspaper to their supplier head offices.