Minister clarifies that bunker fuel storage can be done in several tanks totaling 16 million liters

Asuncion, IP Agency.– The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Javier Giménez, clarified this Friday that the conditions established in decree 1952, on bunker fuel, contemplate that the 16 million liters of storage capacity required by the emblems, is the sum of several tanks of smaller capacity.

In this way, he ruled out that the decree would privilege the state emblem Petropar, which is the only one in the market that has a tank with a storage capacity of 16 million liters.

“The decree establishes that emblems must have storage tanks with a capacity of 16 million liters; the decree speaks of tanks,” the minister stressed.

He reiterated that far from wanting to privilege the state emblem, the objective of the Executive decree is to combat unfair competition that is generated in the domestic market. due to the leakage of bunker fuel into service stations, which is intended exclusively for barges operating on rivers.

Giménez said that this fuel, which does not pay taxes because it enters the country to leave again on barges, generates a situation of unfair competition when it leaks into the domestic market and is sold at service stations.

“There are 130,000 liters that enter the bunker system, which represents about 20 million dollars that are not paid in taxes. A large part of this remained in the territory and was sold at service stations at a differentiated price that created unfair competition,” explained the minister.

He added that what the decree essentially wants to do is to establish minimum technical conditions so that loading onto ships is no longer done as it is currently done “in every bit of ravine in the rivers,” where the National Directorate of Tax Revenue cannot control whether that fuel actually comes out again or if it leaks into the domestic market.

However, the minister clarified, “it is not about revenue, but rather about control and fair competition between the players, who are many.”

In this regard, he clarified that tanks intended for the storage of bunker fuel must be used exclusively for this product, in order to avoid mixing it with fuels intended for the domestic market.

The minister stressed that the decree was very well received by the more than 20 brands competing in the domestic market and “they say that now they will be able to compete on equal terms because the bunker was harming them.”