Citizens Throng Petrol Pumps Amid Rumours of Indian Cities Running Out of Fuel

Earlier in May, India's federal government announced a reduction in the excise duty on petrol and diesel. However, the petrol retailers had paid petrol companies in advance at higher rates. Most of the retailers are now reeling from losses.

Amid rumors of a shortage of petrol and diesel in the country, The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) company on Wednesday clarified that there is no need for people to panic as there is enough fuel for everyone.

Since Saturday rumours have been doing the rounds on social media that the country may soon run out of petrol and diesel, following which long queues of vehicles were witnessed over the weekend in various cities including in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat among others.

In video: Queues at fuel stations in Gujarat last night after circulation of rumour message widely on Whatsapp claiming possible fuel shortage from the morning today. The fake message caused queues at petrol pumps suddenly post midnight. pic.twitter.com/YDyRBogu1O

— DeshGujarat (@DeshGujarat) June 12, 2022

Customer Lined Up At Petrol Pump

© Photo : Twitter

The Indian oil ministry said that the production of petrol and diesel in the country is more than sufficient to accomodate any demand surge.

"Private players have constrained their supplies in many states such as Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Due to which, a rush has been seen at some Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) petrol pumps. This leads to the increase in the customer waiting time at the fuel station,” the oil ministry said in a statement.

The oil ministry also said that the demand at this time of the year also increases due to seasonal agricultural activities. "This year, the bulk buyers shifted their purchase from private to PSUs."

"Oil Companies have geared up to tackle these issues by increasing the stocks at the depots and terminals," the Oil Ministry said.

Speaking with Sputnik, V. Satish Kumar, Director (Marketing) of IOCL, said, "Our refineries are running at full capacity and we are bound to provide fuel in every corner of the country. Please ignore the rumour."

Meanwhile, Kumar has acknowledged that there has been growth in fuel demand of up to 50 percent for various reasons.

Rajasthan Petrol Dealers Association President Sunit Bagai told Sputnik that privately-run petrol pumps — Reliance and Essar -- closed petrol stations for almost two weeks in many states.

The market share of these two companies is about 15 percent in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Gujarat.

As the private petrol pump dealers Reliance and Essar, etc. are incurring losses after the government slashed the rate of fuel in May in many stations across the country, they have closed the petrol pumps.

The market share of both these companies in Rajasthan is about 20 percent and now, when their pumps are closed, the additional burden has shifted to other petrol pump companies.

IOCL is a public sector undertaking in which the government of India has majority of stakes.

"As of now, only IOCL is providing fuel in full capacity. Even other petroleum dealers like Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) have restricted the fuel supply and are providing only 33 per cent oil of the total demand, which is triggering the fuel crisis," Bajpai explained.