THE BARBADOS-BASED Simpson Oil Limited (SOL) Group has added 163 gas stations in Puerto Rico to its chain of Caribbean fuel retail outlets.

This means that after just over a year of operations, it now owns 288 gas station, having just signed a share purchase agreement with The Shell Company (Puerto Rico) Limited, executive director Stewart Gill told the DAILY NATION yesterday.

According to him, this "clearly marks SOL as the largest independent oil dealership in the region", employing more than 1 000 people directly and indirectly. He noted too that the company continued to look for additional opportunities for expansion.

While SOL has acquired Shell's Puerto Rico service stations and lubricants business, the acquisition did not include Shell Chemical Yabucoa Inc petrochemical plant, which remains a separate legal entity that will continue to be operated by the multinational giant.

Shell's fuel businesses in Belize, Guyana and Suriname were taken over by SOL in 2005, along with operations in Barbados, St Lucia, Netherlands Antilles, St Kitts and Nevis, British Virgin Islands, Antigua, Dominica, Anguilla, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to Gill, SOL would supply "Shell's high quality products" and continue to use the Shell brand under a trademark licensing agreement at retail service stations and will sell Shell and Penzoil branded lubricants in Puerto Rico.

Chairman of SOL, Kyffin Simpson, told the DAILY NATION yesterday: "We welcome the opportunity to expand our commercial relationship with Shell into Puerto Rico, having had a very successful year in the Eastern Caribbean, Guyana, Suriname and Belize markets.

"We look forward to working with the staff and intend to grow the business through close local partnerships that can respond rapidly to customer needs."

Juan Carlos Cortes, chairman of Shell Puerto Rico, also welcomed the "long-term deal with the SOL Group".

"This brings together the best of Shell's global products and standards with SOL's local focus and decision-making," he added.

Meanwhile, Gill also disclosed that the growth of SOL as a local and Caribbean entity with an intimate understanding of the issues, placed the company in a great position to work with sugar industry initiatives to develop ethanol as an alternative fuel.

"We support initiatives that will develop alternatives for the sugar industry and are more than willing to work with the various players, although there are serious challenges to developing ethanol as a primary source of fuel," he added.