Deal for free fuel from Citgo on horizon

Alex DeMarban

November 13, 2008 at 8:43AM AKST

A Venezuelan oil company has once again said it will provide 100 gallons of free heating fuel to thousands of Alaskans, according to an official with the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council.

But Steve Osborne, executive director for the tribal organization, cautioned that the gift wasn’t guaranteed.

A Citgo official rang up Osborne Tuesday and said the fuel help was coming. But Citgo and AITC must a sign a contract, he said.

“I don’t want to raise false expectations,” he said, adding that a deal could be struck soon.

The program, administered by AITC, began in Alaska two years ago to help poor, predominantly Native villages with outrageous fuel prices. Last year, more than 15,000 homes in some 160 villages received the fuel, costing Citgo more than $8 million.

The assistance is needed more than ever this winter, Osborne said. Fuel prices have dropped sharply throughout the country and in Alaska’s urban areas, but the state’s off-road villages haven’t benefited, he said. That’s because most villages bought their fuel early this summer, when the price soared.

Most villages may not see a break until rivers melt and the fuel barge arrives next spring.