Nesma Nowar reports on a chronic shortage of gasoline in Egypt's governorates While signs of fuel shortages are evident in many governorates around the country, officials are reassuring consumers that there is absolutely no shortage in fuel allotments for gas stations. In some governorates, long queues of cars, taxis and microbuses could be seen lining up along streets leading to traffic congestion and confusion on major roads. Some other provinces saw clashes and fights which in some cases have left several injured. Such incidents were reported in the governorates of Minya, Daqahliya, Beni Sweif, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Damietta and others. Fuel shortages have been ongoing in most governorates since July, and have escalated during Ramadan and the Eid. Shortages were in the cheaper 80-octane gasoline as well as in the more expensive 90- and 92-octane lead-free gasoline. One taxi driver in Sharqiya governorate, who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly and preferred not to be named, said the 90- octane gasoline has almost vanished. Shortages in the 80- and 92-octane gasoline were also evident. He attributed the shortage in the 80-octane gasoline to the fact that some traders bribe petrol stations in order to buy the gasoline and then sell it on the black market at a higher price. "My main concern was to get the litre of 80-octane gasoline at its regular price to run my taxi," he said. He explained that it almost took him the entire night to manage to fill his tank after visiting more than five petrol stations in the governorate. "The shortages have forced many taxi owners to buy the more expensive 92-octane gasoline," he added. Similarly, the fuel crunch in Tanta, capital of Gharbiya governorate, has led to clashes between taxi and microbus drivers and customers after they have raised fares to make up for the more expensive gasoline they bought on the black market. One employee at one gas station in Tanta told the Weekly that gasoline quantities are over within five hours after their arrival. "We did not have enough to distribute to all those who were waiting to fill their tanks," he said. Despite the evident shortages in many governorates, one expert from the petroleum industry who preferred to remain anonymous said that this is a recurring problem which happens each year; consequently, he would not prefer to call it a crisis. He stated that such shortages surface every year at different periods of time. "This has been the case for the past 30 years; it cannot be changed overnight." He believes that these problems occur as a result of the government's poor planning, although this year, he said, the government's performance regarding petrol supply in general is much better compared to last year. He pointed out that this year, shortages in supply of butane gas cylinders and diesel were not as bad as last year. Cairo was not hit hard by the gasoline crises as other governorates, said Hadi Fahmi, head of the Petroleum and Mining Industries Chamber at the Federation of Egyptian Industries. This is because the consumption of 80- and 90- octane gasoline in other governorates is much higher than in Cairo. Fahmi attributed the problem to "unjustified" increased demand. He said that once people heard about gasoline shortages, they hurried up to fill their tanks with large amounts without any justification. "Unfortunately, that is people's attitude towards any crisis; they rush to buy stuff with amounts that exceed their consumption." Earlier this week, one official at the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) has been quoted as saying that over the past days, there was an unprecedented increased demand on gasoline which reached 32 million litres daily compared to a usual average of 14 million litres daily. Nonetheless, he stated that gasoline shortages in some governorates' petrol stations would end within days where the EGPC is pumping additional large amounts of 80- and 90- octane gasoline in order to overcome the problem. EGPC attributes the shortages to fuel smuggling mafia and to some gas stations' owners who have taken advantage of the situation to make profits. Egypt consumes five million tonnes of gasoline annually of which 93 per cent are produced locally and seven per cent are imported. 80-octane gasoline represents 50 per cent of Egypt's production of gasoline.
