Colombia: thousands of passengers on the ground because the airports are out of fuel
Several Colombian airports are facing a fuel shortage following an electrical fault at a refinery in Cartagena . Thousands of passengers could be affected by flight disruptions across the country.
In an effort to reassure passengers, Ecopetrol, the country's state oil company, released a statement announcing that it had delivered 64,100 barrels of gasoline, 108,500 barrels of diesel and 27,000 barrels of jet fuel to wholesale distributors over the weekend .
Fuel shortage hits operations at several Colombian airports Despite Ecopetrol's announcement, several Colombian airports have been hit by shortages of J1 jet fuel. Terpel and Chevron, the main fuel suppliers in Bogota, said their fuel supplies are at alarming levels. Since yesterday, August 25, airlines have started canceling flights.
Terpel also announced the total suspension of supplies to three airlines starting today, August 26, which will further aggravate the situation at the country's main airport.
Yesterday, suppliers in Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cartagena, Santa Marta and other airports also announced critical fuel shortages.
Cartagena des Indias Airport
Due to fuel shortages, the airline Avianca has decided to suspend the sale of flights to Valledupar for a week. This follows the suspension of all flights in the city last weekend.
Ecopetrol guarantees the supply of fuel at least in words
Despite the impacts already felt, Ecopetrol, the state-owned hydrocarbon company, says it is guaranteeing fuel supplies. “There is no shortage of jet fuel. What exists is irregular activity that is already under investigation,” President Gustavo Petro said on social media yesterday. He also published a press release from Ecopetrol, in which the company conveyed its “confidence in the country on the availability of fuel” and guaranteed supplies, including those needed for air transport.
Ecopetrol declared that it has recovered the production of the Cartagena refinery, also through the stabilization of the 35 operating units. The electrical failure apparently occurred 10 days ago, after the sequential start-up of the operational units on August 18th.
The company said it has since “activated a work plan to ensure the supply of fuels to all market segments and ensure the supply of products such as gasoline, diesel and jet aviation, among others.”
Ecopetrol also said it will import 100,000 barrels of aviation fuel to ensure availability in the coming months. The imports will arrive in Colombia between August 30 and September 1, allowing the company to meet the 95% legal minimum in jet fuel supply by the end of this month. Evidently, however, all these measures were not sufficient to guarantee complete coverage in the supply of airports.
It also confirmed that the full return to normal aviation fuel supplies will occur by September 1.
+
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new Economic Scenarios articles.
The article Colombia: thousands of passengers grounded because the airports are without fuel comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/colombia-migliaia-di-passeggeri-a-terra-perche-gli-aereoporti-sono-senza-carburante/ on Mon, 26 Aug 2024 18:20:10 +0000.