Total discusses Petcom purchase

French oil company Total is in talks with Jamaica's government over the possible purchase of state-owned service station chain Petcom, newspaper Jamaica Observer reported. Petcom is a subsidiary of state oil company PCJ and has 30 service stations, giving it some 12% of Jamaica's oil products market, placing it fourth behind Esso, Shell and Texaco. Annual sales are 3bn Jamaican dollars (US$50mn). "It is early days yet," the Observer quoted a government source as saying. "It is a long way before there is the likelihood of a deal and many hurdles to cross if there is to be one." One such hurdle could be government insistence that if Total buys Petcom, it must also buy the 35,000 barrel a day Petrojam refinery, another PCJ subsidiary. Given that Petrojam needs investment of at least US$125mn to increase capacity and improve efficiency, Total would likely be put off any Petcom deal if it had to buy the refinery too, the paper reported. Total spokespeople were not available for immediate comment Monday. According to PCJ statistics, Jamaica's 2002 gasoline consumption was 4.5 million barrels (mb), and auto diesel consumption was 3.2mb.