-as Rubis launched
The Demerara Oxygen Company (Docol), Guyana’s major distributor of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), feels that enough is not being done to enforce fuel safety handling here, which could result in a serious disaster.
“We feel that the agencies responsible for safety in Guyana need to be more active and collaborate closer… why should a night club be allowed to store LPG when patrons smoke and revel next to cylinders?” said Docol’s Chief Executive Officer Shameer Hussein, who was at the time speaking at the official launch of Rubis, a rebranding of ChevronTexaco’s operations here after a buyout by the former France-headquartered company across the Caribbean.
The event was held on Wednesday evening in the packed Savannah Suite of the Pegasus Hotel, with an audience that included ministers of government, members of the opposition, the diplomatic community, businessmen and members of the private sector.
Hussein, whose company was the distributor of Texgas and will now carry the Rubigas brand for Rubis, believes that relevant agencies need to “place more resources and energy into curtailing” poor handling.
He also informed that while customers will use their current cylinders hoses and heads when purchasing Rubigas, they should not be alarmed when given green cylinders instead of white ones as the transition is ongoing.
Delivering the feature address at the launch was Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud, who congratulated and thanked the company for being here and urged it to maintain environment sustainability and align the company’s policies with the country’s national development thrust.
“I would want to encourage the company itself not to only paint your gas bottles green but also to ensure that in the conduct… the company itself will continue to place large emphasis in ensuring that it is truly and really green and by its thinking and its activity… to be not only competitive but to be compatible with our low carbon development strategy,” Persaud said.
Rubis West Indies’ Chief Executive Officer Mauricio Nicholls and Marketing and Programme Manager Andrea Gooding related both history and programme operations of the company here and in the 11 other countries in the Caribbean where it has operations.
The officials informed that Rubis West Indies will be rebranding all 67 of the Texaco service stations in the eastern Caribbean. This project, which began last month, is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. The total cost for rebranding was given as US$3.5M.
It is the vision of the company to have its Rubigas delivered to consumers’ choice locations as dealers have now increased from 440 to 563.
