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Mobil said to agree to resume fuel delivery to CUC
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Posted on Apr 14 2005
Utility customers got another reprieve from possible power outages, with Mobil Oil agreeing to deliver fuel following a meeting between the oil firm and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. yesterday.
Acting CUC chair Herman P. Sablan and acting executive director Bernard P. Villagomez said on Tuesday that CUC would be forced to go into immediate load shedding if Mobil did not deliver by Thursday.
In a Tuesday letter to Gov. Juan N. Babauta, CUC officials reported that CUC only had enough fuel supply to continue its operations up until April 15.
Mobil was initially scheduled to make a fuel shipment on April 12. However, for unexplained reasons, the oil company informed CUC on Tuesday that the shipment will not arrive until April 14.
Sablan and Villagomez said it was possible that Mobil delayed the April 12 shipment to ensure that they would receive the full payment of $4 million due on April 15.
A partial payment of $500,000 was made on April 8. CUC would only have enough cash to pay Mobil $1 million by the due date, Sablan and Villagomez said Tuesday.
“We will be unable to make a full payment unless we receive assistance,” they added.
But after a meeting between Mobil and CUC officials yesterday, CUC comptroller Sohale Samari said the utility had received assurance from Mobil that fuel supply would be delivered today.
He reported that CUC made another partial payment of $500,000 yesterday. The Finance Department had sent word that it would help CUC in paying the $3 million due today, he added.
Mobil disclosed that the fuel shipment would arrive on Saipan this week. Mobil’s corporate communications office refused to divulge details regarding the CUC’s debt and the conditions, if any, for fuel delivery.
“Mobil is continuing to work closely and constructively with CUC officials and the Executive Branch on this issue and to minimize any disruption to the people of the Marianas,” said Cecile Bamba Suda, Mobil’s public affairs manager. (With John Ravelo)
