2024-08-24 23:43:29
In a recent statement, the company Terpel informed its clients in the aviation sector about a critical situation in the supply of Jet A1 fuel, used in airplanes. The company reported that, due to a contingency at the Cartagena Refinery, there will be an 8% reduction in deliveries of this fuel during the month of August.
The problem began on August 16, when the Cartagena Refinery, one of the main suppliers of aviation fuel in Colombia, suffered an emergency shutdown caused by a power outage. This caused a significant decrease in fuel inventories at several supply plants, with the most affected being Cartagena and Baranoa. While the Barrancabermeja Refinery will be able to fulfill 100% of the fuel deliveries projected for August, the Cartagena Refinery will only reach 76%, which will generate a slight shortage of Jet A1 in the country.
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Ecopetrol, the business group behind these operations, announced that, as a priority measure, it is importing 100,000 barrels of Jet A1 fuel, which are expected to arrive in the country between August 31 and September 2, 2024. Although shipments are expected to return to normal by next week, the uncertainty in supply has led Terpel to activate its contingency plans.
In its statement, Terpel stressed that it is prioritizing the maintenance of sufficient inventories to cover the usual consumption at the affected airports, but warned that there is no room for an increase in demand. Liliana Tovar Silva, vice president of Aviation and Marine at Terpel, stressed that the possible shortage is an event beyond the company’s control and unforeseeable.
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As an additional measure, Terpel has asked the airports on the Caribbean Coast and Rionegro, in Antioquia, to rationalize fuel use until the situation stabilizes. “To date, we have a normalized availability of inventories in our airports, with no possibility of increased consumption due to the situation described,” the company said.
In response to this contingency, several airlines have begun to take measures to rationalize fuel consumption where possible. However, it is expected that some airports may face alerts in the future, although for now no significant problems have been reported. IATA stressed the importance of having clarity on the existing fuel inventories at each airport in the country in order to evaluate and apply the necessary measures to guarantee the continuity of air service.