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CUC told: Pay up now or else…
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Posted on Apr 20 2005
Mobil Oil Marianas has again threatened to stop delivering fuel after the Commonwealth Utilities Corp failed to fully pay the $4 million due last Friday.
CUC issued three checks to Mobil over the past two weeks: $500,000 on April 8, $1 million on April 12, and $1.2 million on April 15. This resulted in an unpaid balance of $1.8 million.
“As mentioned in the past, Mobil wants to work with CUC, but in light of the serious financial situation at CUC, it is only prudent for Mobil to formally notify CUC that due to the short payment on April 15, 2005 of $1,806,680.52, CUC is in default of its contract,” Jojo Dadivas, Mobil commercial territory manager, said in an April 19 letter to the utility firm.
“We are therefore demanding of payment of $1,806,680.52 by April 21, 2005; otherwise we will not be able to deliver the truck and pipeline deliveries to CUC power plants,” he said in the letter.
In an interview, acting CUC chair Herman P. Sablan said the utility was doing everything it can to pay Mobil.
“We’re shifting resources around. We’re holding back on other payments just so we can pay for fuel,” Sablan said.
He added that the Department of Finance has been helpful to CUC. “But like CUC, the Department of Finance also depend on the revenue they collect. If we don’t collect, there’s no way we can pay,” Sablan said.
Mobil has repeatedly issued threats to CUC due to the utility’s failure to make payments on time.
Last week, the oil company delayed its fuel shipment by three days, purportedly to ensure that they would receive the full payment of $4 million due on April 15.
The delay prompted CUC officials to again seek assistance from the central government. CUC maintained that it would be forced to go into immediate load shedding—or implement power outages—if no fuel was delivered for the power plants.
