Sunoco LP is an American vehicle gasoline master limited partnership company organised under Delaware state law and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Photo: Sunoco

Social Commentator and host of Honestly Speaking, Pastor Claude O. Skelton-Cline, has reiterated the need for anti-trust and the Trade Commission, this time using fuel as an example. Photo: Facebook

During his show on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, titled ‘Brace Yourself’, Skelton-Cline said Sunoco LP, a foreign-owned company, “in essence has a monopoly on fuel in the Virgin Islands”. 

Sunoco LP is an American vehicle gasoline master limited partnership company organised under Delaware state law and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. 

“If a Trade Commission [were] in place and anti-trust mechanisms were in place, this kind of stuff could not have happened. Not for us in the Virgin Islands.”

According to Skelton-Cline, the current situation in the Virgin Islands (VI) is that both Delta and SOL are now owned by Sunoco, though still allowed to operate under their names for now. 

“The fuel comes from the same source and is owned by the same entity, and the price is set by that entity and the supply is determined by that entity.”

He added that the few independent gas stations on the island source their fuel “90 per cent of the time” from Sunoco who also owns the company in Puerto Rico, where they source their fuel from. 

‘Somebody got to be paying attention’

Skelton-Cline explained that the reason why he makes a “big sheggedy” about the Trade Commission and constantly calls upon elected officials is because “somebody got be be paying attention”. 

This matter, he added, also affects the BVI Electricity Corporation. 

“The BVIEC has no real supply, no real source, and we are not dependent on one singular entity controlling fuel in the entire Virgin Islands.” 

This is another reason why anti-trust is needed, he continued, saying, “We don’t have to stop their sale, but we’re going to determine how that is going to work in the Virgin Islands.”

Skelton-Cline said it sickens him that “we keep electing blind people to tell us how to see”. 

He added that when these matters are spoken about, it has to do with dealing with policy decisions that impact the lives of the people of the Virgin Islands and not personalities. 

“This is not about you personally.”