Rubis To Build US$5m Fuel Depot

Petroleum Company Celebrates 5 Years

THE construction of a US$5 Million aviation fuel depot at the Hewanorra International Airport is expected to commence sometime this year.

Mauricio Nicholls, CEO of RUBIS Caribbean made the announcement Friday night at a lavish party hosted by the petroleum company at the Landings Resort in Gros Islet to commemorate its fifth anniversary in St. Lucia and the Eastern Caribbean.

He said that the company expects to be selling aviation fuels at this location by mid-2007.

“This investment will increase reliability of supply and a new supply option for the growing number of airlines and private jets flying into Hewanorra,” Nicholls said.

The CEO had much to say about his company’s entry into St. Lucia and the sub-region and its remarkable success story achieved in only five years of operation.

The success story may be difficult to comprehend when one reflects that prior to April, 2012 Rubis did not exist in St. Lucia and the Eastern Caribbean. Today the brand has a bubbling personality and is well known here and the 16 Caribbean countries which it operates. Further to that it has all the key marketing elements of a successful brand.

“It is hard for me to believe that we are celebrating our five year anniversary with Rubis in St. Lucia and the Eastern Caribbean. In many ways it felt as though we just got here and our presence in the region has just begun. In many other ways it feels as though we have been here forever…” Nicholls said.

He said that financially the company had exceeded its business plan and prior year results every year since it started in the region in 2011, which, he noted, was nothing short of remarkable in an economic environment characterized by sluggish growth.

“With all of this, I hope you will agree with me that we have not been exactly idle in the past five years,” Nicholls said.

Rubis commenced operations in the Eastern Caribbean on April 1, 2012 by launching its brand and rebranding its retail network. It is a French based international private limited company founded in 1990 and specializes in the downstream petroleum and chemical sector, operating bulk liquid storage facilities.

The company acquired the Texaco assets owned and operated by Chevron in the Eastern Caribbean in 2011 and today operates in 16 territories in the Caribbean, managing a network of 230 service stations in that region and employing over 350 people.

“Our growth and investment in St. Lucia and the Eastern Caribbean have resulted in the addition of 71 new permanent employees in the region, a 48% increase in our employee count since April 2012. In St. Lucia alone we have added 25 new employees in the same period, thus today we have almost three times the number of employees we had when we first came to St. Lucia five years ago. These numbers exclude the indirect employment which we have also contributed to create. So we have certainly done our part to contribute to increase employment in St. Lucia and the region,” Nicholls said.