Since the gas shortage crisis in Dominica, we have been trying to figure out where the Dominica Petro Caribe operation is sourcing it’s fuel when the regional oil procurement agreement between Venezuela and the Caribbean member states is no longer plus there is an existing US sanctions barring petroleum fuel transactions with Venezuela’s PDVSA. Both PM Skerrit and Minister for Energy Vince Henderson have not been forthcoming with the information regarding the current source of fuel supply to Dominica. Minister Vince Henderson with the usual fancy word salad said that the Petro Caribe gas will be coming from Antigua; PM Skerrit said that the supply would possibly come out of Jamaica but from what we have seen thus far none of the above is true.

When they lie and refuse to be transparent the citizens should never relent on seeking the truth else democracy is lost.

A few weeks before the Christmas gas shortage, we reported that the Dominica Petro Caribe fuel operation had at least on one occasion that we know off, purchased gas from a sanction busting operation – we stand by our reporting then and still do now. Since the government seemingly forced Rubis the gas supply company out of Dominica  we have been paying closer attention to the ships delivering fuel to the Petro Caribe (PC) operation in Dominica.

We have monitored at least 6 ships thus far and out of the six ships just one of them show a definite port of origin. The ship named “Rose PG Douglas” delivered fuel to Dominica on January 8 and from the tracking data the Rose PG Douglas originated directly out of a port in Tortola. The ship left Tortola and came straight to Dominica- no stop in between.

Since January 8 we have noticed a pattern whereby some other ships delivering fuel do not show a port of origin but instead the point of origin shows up as sporadic locations in the middle of the ocean.

The trend indicates that there is no consistent location or port from which Petro Caribe is receiving it’s fuel. We have not seen for example any ships coming from Antigua or St Kitts and then delivering to Dominica. The ship that delivered the relief fuel to Dominica a few days before Christmas came via Antigua. PM Skerrit and Minister Vince Henderson were both very clear on that particular delivery. Since then both PM and Henderson have not been able to give a clear response on the source of fuel supply to Dominica.     

We tracked one ship that left Port Esquivel in Jamaica but the data show that there was an interruption in travel between Jamaica and Dominica. On the data collected no port of origin was identified upon entry into Dominica. The point of origin was - the middle of the ocean.

With the data showing mid-Ocean point of origin for ships delivering fuel to Dominica’s Petro Caribe, we are wondering whether this is a sign of some kind of Ship to Ship (STS) transfer operation. We want to make it clear that not all STS operations are nefarious or illegal. Ship to Ship (STS) transfers is part of the shipping business and may be employed to economize and save on time and or port berthing charges.

With the absence of journalist putting in the work to hold government accountable in Dominica, we took it upon ourselves as we have been doing for 15 years to dig into what we suspect may be STS or mid-ocean transfer activities related to some ships delivering fuel for the Petro Caribe operation in Dominica.

We have received credible information suggesting that there is an operation involving Nigerians entities running black market fuel and doing mid-ocean transfers to willing buyers in the region. We were told that large tankers carrying petroleum products derived from stolen crude in Nigeria traverse the Gulf of Guinea up to the South Atlantic and even the Caribbean seas to transact black market fuel. According to our sources the islands of Antigua and Dominica are allegedly participating in purchasing fuel at lower black-market prices from these Nigerian fuel theft operations.

We also want to make it clear that the data we have collected on the fuel vessels since December only indicate mid ocean points of origin but does not definitively show or identify any particular type of activity or operations.

Fuel theft is a major component of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry- a well-oiled machine – no pun intended.  In October of 2022, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNP) reported that individual producers lost an average of 437,000 barrels of oil a day to criminal organizations and individuals who illicitly tap pipelines onshore and offshore out of Nigeria. The report says that crude oil is stolen by well-organized webs of pipelines and then sent to illegal refining operators. The refined products are ten sold to willing buyers.

Last year fuel theft cost the Nigerian economy an estimated $5 billion.

As far as we know, there are a few public servants who were in one way, or another involved in what we know as government owned and controlled Petro Caribe operation. These public servants – PM Skerrit, Ian Pinard, Reginald Austrie, Emmanuel Nanthan, Marcia Walters may have some answers related to where Petro Caribe is sourcing it’s fuel. Just saying!!!! 

We also want to ask the above-named public servants whether the Petro Caribe operation is now a private corporation and if it is still a government entity then please explain this phenomenon – Why would a government owned entity terminate a fuel delivery contract with a private citizen, bought the truck from that private citizen and then hire him to drive the same truck for Petro Caribe???

What a Wow -What kind of government does this? Certainly not one interested in building wealth among it’s citizens and lifting entrepreneurs out of difficulties. A government on a mission to dominate the private sector, keep the people totally subjugated and absolutely dependent on government handouts.