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At the time of writing, different airlines have issued statements announcing the normalization of their operations and the supply of aircraft fuel. This news is welcome in the context of the critical situation that the Colombian aviation industry has been experiencing in recent days, which has caused several players in the chain to sound serious alarms.
On August 16, a power failure at the Cartagena refinery affected its fuel deliveries, and subsequently the supply to Jet A1 triggered the alarm. Multiple letters have been sent to the authorities warning of the problem and its impact on the country’s air operations. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), 13 airports in the country are taking emergency measures to address the shortage. The headline of the front-page article in this newspaper last Friday was the concerns of airlines about the adequate level of supply and the additional cost that imports may bring to air tickets.
Different players in the supply chain began to take emergency actions that affected ticket availability to certain destinations and caused some terminals to reach “critical inventory” levels. These reactions – understandable given what it means to operate without adequate fuel – led to widespread anxiety in Colombian air traffic, creating great uncertainty for tens of thousands of passengers every day.
The government’s response to the situation has been dominated by a series of tweets from the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, which have not reassured citizens and players in the sector about the path to follow. The President denies the fuel shortage or its relationship to the failure of Reficar; moreover, without further evidence, he accuses “irregular activities”, questions marketing and asks the president of Ecopetrol, Ricardo Roa, to take criminal action for the Reficar incident.
On the other hand, Ecopetrol reported yesterday that Reficar has resumed normal operations and that they will comply with air fuel supply regulations and will import 100,000 barrels, which are expected to arrive before September 1. It is the responsibility of the National Oil Company and the Ministry of Mines and Energy to take actions and public policy measures to prevent Colombia from approaching a moment of shortage of this important energy source, as it has recently experienced.
Without losing sight of the respite these announcements offer, it is worth asking what went wrong for Ecopetrol, Reficar and Minminas, both at a situational and structural level. This assessment, which goes beyond the “responsible parties” to whom the President’s trills are directed, must be carried out technically and transparently to prevent the recurrence of an emergency of this nature. Beyond the end of the crisis in the coming days, what will follow will be a technical and apolitical review of solutions and structural changes to alleviate the shortages. It will be necessary to analyze import policies, alternatives to A1 and clear quality regulations for its import, the opening of stock and reserve levels and a more efficient allocation for the actors in the supply chain.
Francisco Miranda Hamburg
framir@portafolio.co
X: @pachomiranda
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