Because the Port in Suva, Fiji is prioritizing berthing to vessels with emergency relief supplies after Cyclone Winston, Samoa’s fuel supplies have been delayed and Samoa’s fuel supplier — Petroleum Products Supplies (PPS) has appealed to local oil company, Sunrise, for the purchase of 24,000 gallons of fuel.
A notice issued by PPS says Exxon Mobil advised PPS that the fuel tanker originally scheduled to arrive in Apia on March 8, had been delayed until this coming Friday because the tanker is required to give berthing priority to other ships with emergency relief goods.
According to the PPS notice “some disruption to the supply of petrol to service stations may result from the delay in the tanker. In an effort to manage the situation a temporary measure will be put in place whereby service stations will ration the sale of petrol by imposing a limit of sales to each customer effective yesterday. The PPS notice further says that, diesel, jet or kerosene is not affected and there is no restriction on their sale.
PPS says this is an interim, measure only — which will help to ensure minimum disruption to petrol supplies until the tanker arrived Friday March 11, 2016 (Samoa Time). Normal petrol supplies are expected to resume Saturday March 12, 2016.
“The commissioning of the new tanks on the wharfs will enable PPS to store more petrol in the future ensuring the ongoing and increasing demand for petrol can be met going forward,” the statement said.
The local company providing fuel/petrol to PPS in Samoa says they are pleased to be able to support the island community with this effort, according to Amy Letuli, Sunrise Oil’s fuel analyst. She told Samoa News the assistance was successful with the help of their local partners, Stevenson Trucking, Poly Shipping, the United States Coast Guard, ASG Port Authority and the terminal operator, Pacific Energy.
Sunrise Oil says that it’s been a great effort and hopefully they will keep Samoa’s essential services running until their tankers arrives.
Serving American Samoa for over 31 years, Sunrise Oil thanked everyone who came together to help in this matter.