Only one company responded Tuesday to the V.I. Water and Power Authority’s request for bids to supply it with fuel oil, and then only for one of the two types of oil it burns, possibly because Hovensa will still be supplying oil until the end of the year, according to WAPA.
WAPA sent out bid requests on March 16 to 37 fuel supply firms soliciting bids to supply No. 2 and No. 6 fuel oil for a year, starting July 1.
On Tuesday WAPA received a single response to its bid request for the supply of No. 2 fuel oil after June 30 from New York-based Atlantic Petroleum Trading Ltd., according to a statement from the utility.
There were no responses for the No. 6 fuel oil.
WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr. said WAPA will do a formal evaluation of the reasons for the limited response.
He said the team felt that the limited response reflected the fact that, after the authority’s request for bids went out, Gov. John deJongh Jr. was able to secure a commitment from Hovensa to provide fuel oil through the end of the year at prices that will remain below market prices.
Hodge said, “Despite the great interest shown by potential bidders, it is possible that most bidders determined they could not compete with those prices, and therefore declined to bid at this time.”
According to WAPA, one major fuel supplier which did not submit a bid Tuesday has communicated it would be in a position to provide "very competitive bids" to supply fuel starting in 2013, which is when Hovensa has said it will no longer provide fuel to the utility.