State entities
– contradicts Minister’s assertion on lost market share
– clears air on sudden departure from State entity
Despite a recent statement from Finance Minister Winston Jordan that the Guyana Oil Company (Guyoil) lost market share in 2017 owing to its performance, a former high-ranking official at the State agency is actually debunking this assertion.
Eric Whaul, who worked at Guyoil as its Sales and Marketing Manager until his services came to a sudden end earlier this month, would have worked at the State entity throughout the 2017 fiscal year.
Questioning the data being fed to Jordan, Whaul revealed to Guyana Times that the entity sold 23,000 more barrels of fuel in 2017 when compared to its sales in 2016. Whaul officially took over the portfolio of Sales and Marketing Manager in May 2016.
“Guyoil did not lose market share in 2017,” he stated. “In 2017, Guyoil Aviation Services Inc sold 34,500 barrels aviation fuel above its 2017 budget and more than what it sold in 2016.” He added, “In 2017, Guyoil sold 145,000 litres lubricant more than what it sold in 2016.”
“In 2017, Guyoil surpassed its budgeted after-tax profit. Guyoil revised its after-tax profit upwards in 2017 to $1.89 billion and we achieved $1.85 billion. Guyoil was 4700 barrels ahead of its 2018 Budget at the end of February 2018.”
While he acknowledged that Guyoil fell short on its budgeted volumes in 2017, Whaul pointed out that the entity exceeded its original budgeted after-tax profit. However, the marketing specialist noted that the business climate has not been a productive one.
“It is no secret that companies were complaining all year about the decrease in business and in September 2017, the numbers showed that reported fuel imports were down by over four per cent. In fact, in that same printed article, growth rate for 2017 was reported at 2.1 per cent against projected growth of 3.9 per cent.”
Departure
There have been open questions as to the circumstances that precipitated Whaul’s sudden departure from Guyoil. These questions would gain traction when one considers the entity’s performance in 2017 – as one of the few State entities to exceed the previous year’s performance.
But could the answers lie in changes at the board level? According to Whaul, he and the new Chairman, Mark Bender, have history together… having both worked at TCL Guyana Incorporated.
“When I joined TCL Guyana Inc in 2011, he was the person in charge and the company was operating at a loss,” Whaul related. “Through the implementation of prudent marketing strategies, it started making profit from late 2011, which increased yearly until 2016 after the implementation of certain strategies against my advice.
“The resulting strained relations were responsible for my eventual departure in 2016 to join the team at Guyoil and I must confess that there was no love lost. I thought it was necessary that I clear the air on this matter by highlighting these facts as I move on,” Whaul concluded.
During a recent press conference, the Finance Minister had zeroed in on Guyoil. Jordan related that its performance left more to be desired.
However, he added that the entity was expected to get a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) soon. Guyoil has been without a substantive CEO since Badrie Persaud, who was fired from the post in 2016 on the heels of a Nigel Hinds Financial Services’ conducted forensic audit.
“Guyoil kept within the realm of what they said they were doing, but they lost some market share. The performance was up to standard, but it could have been better. But they did transfer a billion plus in dividends to us.”
“They have a new Chairman there, Mr Mark Bender and they should get a new CEO there shortly,” Jordan related. “They’re making some other personnel changes and hopefully, they’ll become a bit more aggressive, stem the fall in the market share and hopefully, improve it.”
But Jordan had noted that building on 2016; he had expected the company to do better than it actually did.
