Egypt is suffering between a 40 and 75 percent fuel shortage, while the shortage for Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) stands between 30 and 50 percent, said the Egyptian Federation of Chambers of Commerce’s (FECC) General Division for Petroleum Products.
The shortage of diesel fuel caused wheat harvesting machines to be stopped by their owners until farmers provide them with diesel.
All governorates are suffering a shortage of diesel and 80-octane gasoline, said Fayoum Governorate’s FECC Petroleum Division Secretary Iman Baraka. According to Baraka, the diesel fuel shortages reached a rate of 75 percent on Thursday.
“The crisis resulted from the fact that the Petroleum Minister failed to abide by the pledges he announced concerning petroleum products,” he said.
He explained that the price of diesel fuel in jerry cans rose to LE40 on the black market, compared to its official price of LE22 pounds at gas stations. He pointed out that many gas stations in lower-income areas have put up signs saying “no gas or diesel fuel.”
Meanwhile, Ahmed Abdel Ghaffar, the division’s vice president, criticized the fact that the Petroleum Minister failed to implement his decision concerning the allocation of one inspector for every four gas stations to prevent petroleum products making their way to the black market.
Abdel Ghaffar said he expects the crisis to continue until the end of the harvest season, after the stabilization of supply and demand.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
