CAIRO - A renewed fuel shortage, which has hit Egypt's governorates over the past few days, has left many car owners fuming. The petrol stations in Cairo have run out of 80-octane gasoline and micro-bus and car drivers became like "patients" looking for a medicine that does not exist, Ahmed Azmi, a taxi driver from the Cairo neighbourhood of Hadayek el-Qubba, has said. "My main concern today is whether I can get a litre of 80-octane gasoline at its regular price to run my taxi," Azmi said, adding that he only managed to fill his taxi after visiting six petrol stations in Hadayek el-Qubba and Ghamarh district. “It took me almost one hour,” he said. "An attendant at a petrol station has told me they had run out of the 80-octane gasoline, which is suitable for small cars, micro-buses, and irrigation machines that are used by farmers," Sayyed Ali, another truck driver, said. Meanwhile, Mina Khalil, another motorist, stayed in his private car, parked among dozens of other vehicles at a gas station on Mirs and Sudan Street, unwilling to give up his place in the long line in his desperate scramble for the 80-octane fuel. "Around 40 other private cars and mini-trucks were parked there, waiting for the gas station to distribute supplies just before the Friday prayers time," he said. Some drivers claimed that the Government has run out of diesel, or reduced the supply. Others alleged that the farmers' use of diesel-fired agricultural equipment was the main cause of the fuel shortage. They said that work with agricultural equipment for irrigation and harvesting purposes was one of the causes of the shortage of fuel. It's not clear which came first – the rumours or the fuel shortages – but for several days this week drivers had to wait in long lines only to find key grades of gasoline sold out across Cairo, a bustling city of some 18 million people. Gas stations rationed their fuel, while gas station assistants seized the opportunity to demand 20 per cent tips in some areas of the city. As motorists stocked up, supplies ran down, and before nightfall, dozens of stations were turning cars away. However, the Oil Ministry dismissed claims of petrol shortages in the country."The Ministry is currently pumping 21.5 million litres of petrol daily across the country to meet the needs of the local market," Al-Ahram daily newspaper reported. It said nine million litres daily were allocated to the Cairo governorate alone. It added that the nation Egypt was not facing any shortages. Petrol in Egypt is subsidised and sold at almost half the market value. Some drivers linked the crisis to smugglers, who reportedly buy up the subsidised petrol to sell abroad.
