Dor Alon gas station
Dor Alon to lose two-thirds of fuel sales to PA
As of Monday, oil company to supply fuel only to Gaza, while Paz will take over sales to West Bank
The Dor Alon oil company announced Sunday it sold NIS 1.72 billion (USD 408 million) worth of fuel to the Palestinian Authority in the first nine months of 2006.
Dor Alon will stop supplying fuel to the West Bank as of Monday, but continue to supply gas to Gaza. The Paz oil company will replace Dor Alon in providing fuel to the West Bank.
Several months ago, the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement with Paz, according to which Paz was slated to replace Dor Alon as the sole supplier of gas to the PA. However, following intensive negotiations between the PA and the two companies, the Palestinians decided to continue purchasing fuel from Dor Alon, but only to Gaza.
Dor Alon reported that its sales to Gaza account for a third of the PA's gas consumption. The company therefore stands to lose about two-thirds of its sales to the PA which amount to some NIS 1.5 billion (USD 356 million) annually.
In exchange for retaining its monopoly in Gaza, Dot Alon has agreed to provide the PA with a discount on fuel prices, while the PA has consented for Dor Alon to reduce its credit period.
The PA has been continuously falling behind on its payments to Dor Alon, and in the last year the oil company was forced to suspend fuel supply to the territories for several days, until the Palestinians were granted special international – mostly European – aid to pay its debts.
