RAJKOT: The rumours on social media about a steep hike in petrol and diesel prices after the election results of the five states are declared and concerns raised over fuel shortage by petrol pump owners have led to people making a beeline at petrol pumps in Saurashtra region.
However, Vadinar-based oil refinery Nayara Energy Ltd which supplies fuel to public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) for its 1,500-odd petrol pumps in Saurashtra on Thursday said that there was no short supply of petrol and diesel from their end. The company further added that they would continue the supply of petrol and diesel as per agreement with OMCs.
“Nayara Energy is focused on fuelling the needs of our consumers. We have been supplying and will continue to supply both diesel as well as petrol as per requirement/ schedule to both Nayara retail outlets as well as our PSU partners (OMCs),” the company stated in reply to an email query by TOI.
Nayara Energy Ltd is backed by a Russian oil firm and operates a refinery in Vadinar, Jamnagar, with a capacity of 20 million tonnes per year.
Federation of Gujarat Petroleum Dealers’ Association (FGPDA) members on Wednesday had made a representation to the state civil supplies department raising concerns over the short supply of petrol and diesel in eight districts of Saurashtra.
The dealers alleged that Nayara Energy Ltd was not allowing their trucks to collect fuel since Tuesday. As per the agreement with public sector OMCs, their 1,500 dealers in Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar, Amreli, Gir Somnath and Devbhumi Dwarka districts take fuel from Nayara Energy Ltd’s Vadinar refinery.
Arvind Thakkar, president, FGPDA had said, “Due to the ongoing war situation, crude prices have gone up and people are queuing up for petrol and diesel refills fearing a steep rise in prices. As a result, there is panic buying of fuel and the stocks are dwindling.”
He further said, “Over the past two days, our tankers are not being filled at oil company depots due to which dealers are facing a lot of constraints and consumers are getting affected.”
Gopal Chudasama, president of Saurashtra Petrol Dealers’ Association said, “Generally a petrol pump keeps stock of at least three days. But since Wednesday people are queueing up to re-fill their vehicles because of the price hike messages going viral on social media. The news of fuel shortage added to the worry of consumers and people are refilling vehicles to the brim.”
According to a rough estimate, petrol pumps in Saurashtra region sell about 10 lakh litres of petrol and six lakh litres of diesel every day.
