The state run oil company in Costa Rica registered losses above $24 million during the first nine months of 2015, despite having the highest prices in the region.
In the first nine months of 2015 the Costa Rican Oil Refinery lost more than $24 million. The state run company, which has had a monopoly in refining and sale of fuels in Costa Rica for more than half a century, has payroll costs representing 56% of its total expenditure.
Even with a poor financial situation, Recope’s operational spending grew by 21% over the same period, spending $166 million of the state’s budget. The partial figures were given to Nacion.com by Sara Salazar, chief executive of Recope, and Edgar Gutierrez, the manager of Administration and Finance at the refinery.
Nacion.com reported that “… the financial deterioration is explained by a reduction in income due to the drop in international oil prices, coupled with lower domestic consumption of petroleum products such as bunker fuel. Revenues from fuel sales by Recope went down 30% in the period under review “.
“… The result, between January and September last year compared to the same period in 2014 is the most negative the public company has experienced since 2011“.
Source: Nacion.com
Typical gov’t run operation. They can’t help but lose money even though they have a monopoly and charge more than anyone in the private sector. But in spite of all the proof that gov’t is not capable of operating efficiently or effectively, there are a lot of people everywhere who want gov’t to take over and run almost everything. Too bad there isn’t an easy way to let them run their own countries their way with someone like Bernie Sanders in charge, while the rest of us go and run our own countries our way.