Costa Rica was the first country to announce her intention to become a carbon-neutral country by the year 2021. We are ten years away from achieving that noble goal, and the progress that has been made thus far at the community and private levels outshines the efforts by the government. While some experts have criticized public officials for dragging their feet in this matter, other analysts are confident that Costa Rica will be able to keep to her commitment to the world.

There is one major obstacle of concern on the path to achieving carbon neutrality, though. Ticos are thirsty for more oil, and the thirst goes beyond the burgeoning car culture that is emerging among the population.

Rising Fuel Prices

According to a recent article appearing in the online edition of the business publication El Financiero, fuel prices in Costa Rica are the highest in the Central American isthmus. The average price of gasoline in Central America during January of 2012 was $4.44 per gallon, but in Costa Rica that price was up to $4.66 per gallon. Nicaragua also danced with the priciest gasoline in Central America for a few days, but the consumption in our country far outstripped that of our neighbor to the north.

Tico motorists also have to shell out more for diesel and propane gas than other consumers in Central America.

The high cost of fuel and its high demand by Ticos is prompting the government to enter into public-private partnerships that may lessen fuel prices and stimulate the industrial output of the country, thereby increasing the national carbon footprint.

According to business site centralamericadata.com, a massive fuel tank construction project is currently accepting bids. The purpose is to demolish existing fuel storage tanks and build new ones of greater capacity, to wit:

Civil and mechanical construction of two steel tanks each 2385 cubic meters (15,000 barrels) large for the storing bunker fuel.

The project is expected to increase fuel storage capacity in those tanks to 30,000 barrels of oil, thereby doubling existing capacity.

Other recently announced projects aim to increase RECOPE’s ability to refine even more oil in our country, something that will make the goal of achieving carbon neutrality even more challenging. Another project that will start this year is the expansion of RECOPE’s fuel tanker terminal in the Port of Moin in Limon.

In January of 2010, RECOPE announced that the national fuel storage capacity was 3.4 million barrels.