KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) is calling on the private sector to look seriously at the scope for investing in the ownership and upgrade of the nation’s refinery, currently owned and operated by Petrojam.

The call was made by JCC President Warren McDonald after a briefing made by a team of senior Petrojam representatives to members of the JCC Executive Committee on Tuesday.

The briefing took place in the context of concerns by some JCC members regarding the slow downward movement of petroleum pump prices in the face of significantly lower world market prices for crude oil. Members of the JCC Executive Committee acknowledged that both the creeping devaluation of the Jamaican dollar and tax fees, including the increase earlier in 2015 of the Special Consumption Tax (SCT), militate against significant falls in pump prices.

McDonald noted that the JCC’s call to the private sector is being made in the context of the association’s longstanding commitment to the divestment from government ownership of government holdings in the productive sectors, as well as in light of the imminent re-shaping of the Jamaican energy market because of the proposed removal of the Common External Tariff on petroleum products and the fact that the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPSCo), which is currently a major Petrojam customer, will in the near-term be converting its fuel source to LNG.

The JCC president noted that there were few expectations that Venezuela, 49 per cent owners of the refinery, would be able in the foreseeable future, to fund the expansion and upgrade of the complex, given the financial realities facing that country.

With the Government of Jamaica owning the majority 51 per cent, he opined that the decision facing Jamaica is to determine whether it makes good business sense to seek a new financing scenario.

If Jamaica is transitioning to a logistics-centered economy, he noted, there may be considerable scope for going ahead with the upgrade, as a modern refinery could function as a hub for value-added petroleum products.