CAIRO: The harvest season and the difficulty in importing diesel from Libya and Iraq are the two main reasons that led to the recent diesel shortage, said an official in a major oil company. “Egypt acquires a large amount of its diesel imports from Libya and Iraq,” Ahmed Atta, head of sales at Misr Petroleum Company, told Daily News Egypt. “The unstable situation in those countries made it difficult for Egypt to import.” The shortage of diesel fuel was felt in several governorates and industries over the past two weeks. Trucks, agricultural tractors and microbuses lined up in front of fuel stations nationwide, which closed down and put up “No Diesel Fuel” signs. The shortage led to significant paralysis in public transportation, closure of some bakeries and delay of crop harvesting. Clashes, attacks and protests among citizens and drivers were reported in Arish, Beheira, Minya, Kafr Al Sheikh, Menufiya, Fayoum, Beni Sueif and Damietta. Egypt experiences a similar crisis around the same time every year due to the increase in consumption associated with the agricultural harvest season. The crisis is believed to have been intensified due to the absence of security. Egypt imports around 5.3 million tons of diesel per year, representing 25 percent of consumption, and pumps about 34 tons per day through 2,200 distribution outlets all over the country, minister of petroleum recently told state-run daily Al-Ahram. He said consumption has increased during the harvest season to 36,000 tons per day up from 32,000 tons per day with farmers resorting to hoarding diesel fuel for fear of further shortages, which consequently intensified the crisis. “I believe that this is a temporary crisis and will be completely resolved within the next 15 days with around 70 percent already resolved,” Atta said. “We are available at the office 24 hours a day… to receive customer complaints and investigate shortfalls.” In a bid to mitigate the effects of the crisis, the Cabinet said it will increase the diesel and liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) subsidy to LE 60 billion in the FY2011/12 budget plan, with diesel accounting for LE 45 billion. The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) announced it had imported 140,000 tons of diesel, of which 35,000 tons had already arrived at the Suez port, according to Al-Ahram. “The problem is people don't believe government announcements anymore; as a result they don't believe that the crisis is coming to an end shortly,” Atta told DNE. “Egypt is currently trying to reach self-sufficiency in diesel fuel.”
