That a good part of the Extremadura gas stations close from tomorrow is a real possibility, very real at this time of day. Pending meetings to be held this afternoon, the vast majority of service stations believe that the best thing, or the least bad thing, is to close from tomorrow, temporarily, because they indicate that they cannot accept the discount of 20 cents per liter of fuel nor do they have the possibility in hours to make computer changes for the new billing system. «Between fright or death, we have to choose the first. Closing is better than assuming some advances for the discounts on each liter of fuel that we cannot afford economically, ”Lorenzo Florencio, president of Iberdoex, the Extremaduran group that has around 50 gas stations in the region, tells TODAY. As that newspaper reported yesterday, it is planned to close.
Both Iberdoex and the Association of Service Stations of Extremadura (Aresex), which includes another 80, are SMEs and are holding assemblies this afternoon to unify a position starting tomorrow that, “unless there is a radical change in what remains of day, happens to not open from tomorrow, “says Fernando Mena, president of Aresex.
To better understand why it is possible that a large part of Extremadura’s gas stations will close tomorrow, we must look at the X-ray of this sector in Extremadura. In the region, estimates Mena, there are about 400 fuel distribution companies. Of these, which we can classify as gas stations, there are about 350. A large part of them are not directly in the hands of the big oil companies (Repsol, Cepsa, Petronor and Galp) but are managed by SMEs, either directly or franchised with those oil companies In addition, a small part are low-cost and others are cooperatives.
Except for those belonging to the oil companies, they all argue that they cannot currently supply fuel at discounts starting tomorrow. As it is a legal obligation, in order not to break the law they choose to close. “The service stations that have car washes or food stores will dedicate themselves to opening these facilities but not to supplying fuel in these conditions,” concludes Florencio.
Making the discount of 20 cents on each liter of fuel, explains the president of Iberdoex, represents an average of 800 euros per day for 90 days, that is, anticipating 72,000 euros in three months. Although the royal decree states that the Treasury can grant an advance to deal with that amount (90% of what is sold per month in 2021), “it does not speak of doing it immediately, in the short term, which would be the only way to be able to assume that cost, and even leaves the possibility that after a month without a response from the Treasury, the advance will be denied ».
The situation of a possible closure of gas stations is already beginning to worry fuel suppliers and companies that obviously depend on fuel for their activity. TODAY has learned of a company in northern Extremadura that supplies fuel to gas stations that has received communication from these that, at this time and as of next week, it cannot count on its fuel “due to current circumstances.”
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.