Puma Energy, a Swiss-based global fuel distributor, has picked Puerto Rico to be its new regional headquarters, which is expected to lead to the creation of 230 indirect jobs there.
The firm already has 700 contractors working on construction and environmental rehabilitation of a Puerto Rico terminal, which it acquired in 2011. Puma Energy estimated that from 2011 through the end of the currently-planned projects it will create 3,000 direct and indirect jobs in Puerto Rico, a boost to an economy that had an 14.7% unemployment rate in October. In that month the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there were 174,400 unemployed Puerto Ricans.
The new headquarters will be in Bayamon, which is located about a half mile west of Puerto Rico's main city, San Juan. The company will spend $17 million constructing the headquarters.
The Puerto Rico headquarters will coordinate the storage, transportation and distribution of gasoline, diesel, propane gas and lubricant products to the Caribbean and the Americas, Puerto Rico said Tuesday.
Puma Energy picked Puerto Rico for its regional headquarters because of its favorable business environment, the Puerto Rico government said.
Puerto Rico will be one of Puma's four regional headquarters in the world.
To date the company has invested $480 million in Puerto Rico.
An earlier version of this story, based on information from a government-hired public relations firm, incorrectly stated that the company was going to spend $400 million on creating the regional headquarters and that the new investment would create 3,000 direct and indirect jobs.
