Gas Station Queues Return amid Pricing Confusion
Long queues returned to Lebanon’s gas stations on Thursday amid a delay in the issuance of the weekly prices schedule by the Ministry of Energy.
The delay has been blamed on a rise in the price of oil globally and on a surge in the dollar exchange rate on the black market in Lebanon.
George al-Brax, member of the syndicate of gas station owners, said communication with the Ministry of Energy is ongoing and that “there is a promise that the schedule of fuel prices will be issued tomorrow morning.”
“Stations that have gasoline stocks are selling the substance according to the current schedule, but the (distribution) companies have not delivered fuel to some stations,” Brax added.
“Some stations are closed because they do not have stocks,” he went on to say.
Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Thursday that “the Ministry of Energy will not issue the schedule of fuel prices today” and that “it will begin an inspection campaign to review the stocks that are stored at stations.”
“Measures will be taken against violators and might reach the extent of shutting down their stations,” the daily added.
Energy Minister Walid Fayyad, who was abroad on Tuesday and Wednesday, slammed the behavior of some gas station owners as “blackmail and a violation of the laws.”
“They should have continued to deliver this substance as long as new prices have not been issued, especially that most stations have stocks that had been purchased at the current prices,” Fayyad added.
Source: Naharnet
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