Trip Report: Gas Stations Of The Caribbean

Continuing with our series of gas station articles from around the world, today we discuss Gas Stations of the Caribbean. We've learned from recent travels that there are only 3 main companies operating in the Caribbean basin so there isn't a lot of competition. One of those major companies is French energy giant TOTAL. They have stations in the French territories of Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana plus Jamaica (pictured above), Dominican Republic, Haiti, Colombia, Puerto Rico and USVI.

RUBiS is another French company with a lot of stations around the Caribbean. You can find their stations in the Bahamas, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada (pictured above), Guyana, Bermuda, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos and Suriname. They've been growing a lot over the past decade, having purchased assets from the Texaco stations that used to operate in the Caribbean.

Sol Petroleum is a relatively new brand but rapidly growing through acquisitions. This station in St. Vincent is one of their original markets, having purchased assets from Shell there and in Grenada, Barbados, St. Lucia, Haiti, Anguilla, St. Kitts, St. Maarten and BWI. While they operate under their own Sol name in these countries.....

They continue to use the ESSO name in the French islands plus Barbados, Bahamas, Bermuda, Dominican Republic and Cayman Islands.

In the meanwhile, Sol continues to use the Shell name in Guyana, Suriname, Belize, Dominican Republic, French Guina, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Not sure if the Shell stations in the Bahamas are prt of Sol. There are other small brands on various Caribbean islands but by-in-large, these three companies dominate the market.

We'll go ahead and add PEMEX to our article because Mexico does face the Caribbean too. While in recent years the Mexican government has allowed outside companies to begin to operate in the country, 98% of the gas stations in Mexico are owned by the government and operate as PEMEX as shown in the Cozumel station above. Because of the inefficiencies and poor service inherent in monopolies, the government realizes they need some completion in the business. Also check out: Gas Stations of Iceland; Gas Stations of the Emirates & Greece; Gas Stations of the West.