The Dominican Republic could have saved as much as US$300 million in 2004 if it had a better supervision and knowledge of international oil prices. Jose Luis Moreno San Juan, the head of the Energy Institute at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, said that 80% of the petroleum imported into the country is bought by the Shell Company for the Dominican Refinery. He added that the US$300 million figure also included the fuel that is purchased to produce electricity. According to the report in Hoy, the problem lies in the fact that reference prices are used to calculate the import parity price. The import parity price is then used to establish taxes and retail sale prices for the consumer. Moreno San Juan says that the trouble is that the reference price used is the value of petroleum on the “spot” market, not the price that can be obtained on the futures market, which is sometimes as much as 15% less than the spot market price. The university researcher also points out that the purchasing agents receive large commissions on their purchase contracts on the international market. Moreno San Juan said that one indication of just how much could be saved was the statement by the Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Mining, Rafael Ramirez, last November, when he pointed out that the direct shipments from Venezuela would save the Dominican Republic the US$4 or US$5 per barrel charged by intermediaries. Professor Moreno said that the lack of adequate supervision of the petroleum markets by the Dominican government was prejudicial to the local consumers.