Last night we told you about the astronomical pump price for fuel: in Belize City it is almost thirteen dollars a gallon for premium! And if you think that's bad try buying a gallon in Punta Gorda where the price is thirteen dollars and twenty cents per gallon!
Regular isn't far behind at almost twelve dollars per gallon in the city and twelve - nineteen in PG.
Diesel, though, is stuck at 10.17 per gallon. Don't get us wrong, we aren't complaining, but those with knowledge of the sector, point out to us that it is unusual that for the past two increases in pump price, Diesel has remained untouched.
Our investigations today tell us that may have something to do with the fact that Belize Natural Energy is now importing Diesel fuel. It's not huge quantities, but it is enough to factor into the market - because BNE is offering cheaper diesel to large consumers - particularly in the south. And so, insiders say, it may be that PUMA is keeping the price of diesel low to remain competitive - and making up for its loss at that end, by inflating the price of regular and premium fuel.
General Manager of Puma Freddy Flores flatly denied this today; he told us that the company has a shipment cycle - and prices are based on the cycle.
As for the BNE fuel, he told us PUMA Energy is open to competition.
We could not reach the relevant personnel from the Ministry of Finance to look more closely at the acquisition prices - as they were out of office - and PUMA refused to disclose such data.
But one thing that we did not get to ask PUMA's Manager about - but which did come up later in our fuel investigation is the grade of diesel that PUMA is importing.
Pi Marin - the owner of Belize's largest car dealership, Belize Diesel and Equipment Company confirmed to us that in the past two months, his mechanics have been dealing with an inordinate number of dirty filters and fouled injectors for diesel vehicles.
He told us that fuel filters which should last twenty thousand kilometers have been going bad within 1,500 kilometers - and he adds, even the Prime Minister's Land Cruiser got caught in the mix.
Marin says he doesn't know what was causing the contamination - and so he changed the filters at his gas station. But even after that, vehicles kept coming in from all over the country - so he concludes that it is most likely an inferior grade of diesel causing the contamination.
When we called back PUMA for comment, our call got dropped.
Belize imports a commercial grade number two diesel fuel which is for heavy duty agricultural purposes. BNE is currently importing a cleaner low sulfur fuel.
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