Gulfstream Petroleum Services

What it is

Gulfstream Petroleum Dominicana (GPD) is a private company whose core business is distributing petroleum-derived fuels; it holds the rights to the Texaco brand in the Dominican Republic. Its customers range from retail fuel stations — selling petrol and lubricants — to commercial fuel buyers, power-generator operators and the aviation sector.

GPD commanded roughly 19% of the Dominican fuel market with 154 Texaco commercial points, making it one of the two or three biggest fuel distributors on the island. Its main suppliers are the Refinería Dominicana de Petróleo (Refidomsa) and GB Energy Trading (GBET), a related-party trader.

Who owns it

GPD belongs to the Grupo GB conglomerate, within its GB Energy segment; the Group began operations in 1972 under businessman Gilbert Bigio and spans steel, agriculture, food, logistics, media and financial services across Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Maarten and the Dominican Republic. GB Group is the majority shareholder and operator, with strategic partners in the Dominican market including Grupo Martí PG, Grupo Bermúdez M., and La Universal de Seguros.

In 2012, the Group acquired the Chevron Texaco operations in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Saint Maarten — the transaction that created GPD as it stands today. The exact ownership percentages of each partner are not disclosed in available sources.

Who runs it

The board of administration is composed of Pablo D. Portes (President) and Manuel A.

Jiménez (Secretary), as disclosed in the January 2026 Feller Rate credit report filed with the BVRD. Gilbert Bigio, as president of GB Group, is the ultimate controlling principal of the enterprise.

Named CEO and CFO titles are not disclosed in available sources; GPD’s governance filings identify board roles rather than executive management titles.

The money, in plain words

Through the first nine months of 2025, GPD brought in RD$38,848 million (~US$663 million, our calculation), a 7.1% drop from the same period a year earlier, with every sales channel falling except aviation. Fuel distribution is a high-volume, thin-margin business: the company keeps only a few cents of profit from each peso of sales, and CariCRIS sets a gross profit margin of 10% or higher as the threshold for a credit-rating upgrade, implying GPD has not yet reached it.

The company carries high financial debt — above two times its equity since 2019 — though since 2024 the ratio has been falling, reaching 2.8× at end-2024 and 2.4× by September 2025, as equity has grown faster than borrowings. The key coverage ratio — net debt relative to operating cash generation — recovered sharply in 2024: the net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio fell to 3.9× from 13.8× in 2023, and the EBITDA-to-interest-cost ratio climbed to 1.5×, up from just 0.5× in 2023.

What it is doing now

In March 2025, Caribbean ratings agency CariCRIS assigned initial credit ratings to a proposed new bond issue of up to US$25 million, at CariBBB- on its regional scale and drA- on the Dominican national scale, with a stable outlook — signalling GPD is tapping the debt market again after its turbulent 2023. A new supply contract with Shell Trading is also in place, which analysts expect to ease GPD’s fuel-import financing burden going forward.

The key risk the rating agencies cite is unchanged: a highly competitive sector combined with high debt and oil-price volatility. Whether the aviation channel — the one bright spot in 2025 — can offset softness in retail will be the next test.

What to watch

• Gross margin recovery: CariCRIS requires a gross profit margin at or above 10%, sustained for two years, before it will consider a rating upgrade. Reaching that level — and holding it — is the single most important financial milestone.
• Debt reduction: Financial leverage has been above 2× equity since 2019; steady deleveraging would materially strengthen the credit profile and lower interest costs.
• Shell Trading contract: The new import arrangement with Shell Trading could change GPD’s cost structure; its full-year impact has not yet been reported.
• Aviation growth: Aviation was the only segment growing through the first three quarters of 2025; tourism-driven jet-fuel volumes are the business’s fastest-moving lever.
• Ownership disclosure: The exact percentage stakes of the minority partners (Grupo Martí PG, Grupo Bermúdez M., La Universal de Seguros) are not publicly disclosed — a governance gap worth watching for bond investors.

This is news, not investment advice.