State Minister for the Environment Phenton Neymour, who is also responsible for the petroleum sector, met with the Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association (BPRA) yesterday to assure them that the government is considering increasing their sales margins on gas and diesel as they requested.
BPRA members have been saying for years that their margins have been too low for too long, and took a vote Tuesday night to strike if government did not immediately raise them.
The BPRA asked the government to increase the sales margins for retailers to $0.74 per gallon for gasoline and $0.47 per gallon for diesel.  Their sales margins now are $0.44 per gallon for gasoline and $0.19 per gallon for diesel.  Gasoline has been set at the same margin for 10 years and diesel for more than 30 years.
Neymour promised the BPRA members that when Cabinet meets today he would bring their case to his colleagues and meet with them again tomorrow, according to BPRA interim president Philip Kemp.
It was long lines at gas stations across New Providence Tuesday night, as consumer fears that retailers would strike and leave them without fuel sparked a mad rush to fill vehicle gas tanks.
Kemp told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that Tuesday night was "indicative" of what could happen if the BPRA is unhappy with the government's response to their calls for the higher sales margins on gas and diesel.
However, he insisted that BPRA members did not know that their strike vote would have had the effect on gas sales that it did Tuesday night.
"We didn't expect it, we didn't anticipate it and we didn't plan for it," Kemp said.  "It actually caught us unprepared."
Kemp explained that while their sales were up, most stations ran out of fuel, which disrupted the fuel supply chain regulated by their wholesalers.
"We made a lot of money last night, but instead of spreading the funds over a 24-hour period we made it in a few hours and ran out of fuel for the next day," he said.
"We didn't benefit.  It will cause some inventory issues for the wholesaler because they would not have planned to move so much gas in such a short time."
Neymour said he had very "frank" discussions with the BPRA about what they hope to receive form the government.
In the meantime consumers of fuel said they have no idea what they will do if the retailers decide to strike.
"The strike is not good for us who need the gas, but it will be good for those who sell it," said taxi driver Vernal Moss.
"Everybody needs a little more (money) and if that's the way they (the retailers) have to get it, then more power to them."
Another taxi driver, Frances Johnson, said the possibility of a strike makes her very nervous.
"Without gas I can't work," she said.
"I'm not sure how this is going to go but I hope it comes to some resolution.  This is a modern world and when the guests come in they need to go places, so I just hope they come to some resolution soon," said Johnson.

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