Arturo Martínez Moya, a past president of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery, says that the DR urgently needs to begin a fuel savings program. He said that consumption of fuel in the DR is the highest in Central America and the Caribbean. This is primarily because the DR relies on petroleum fuel-consuming power plants for 80% of its electrical generation. He explained that half of the fuel consumed goes for power generation. Generation of much lower-cost hydroelectric power plants and charcoal-consuming plants has declined in recent years. Moya says that the country consumes 130,000 barrels of petroleum a day. This is up from 50,000 barrels in 1990. The petroleum bill is expected to have increased US$600 million more this year over 1999, reflecting the increase in world fuel prices, but also an increase in overall consumption. He urged that the government revise provisions in the generator privatization contracts regarding the fuel component. Moya says there would be savings if the country imported more processed fuel than crude.
