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With nothing to sell, Vietnam gas stations start to close

November 3, 2022

With nothing to sell, Vietnam gas stations start to close

Deliveries fail to arrive, disrupting life in a nation that relies on motorbikes

Tens of millions of Vietnamese depend on motorbikes to get to work and school, but many drivers in Ho Chi Minh City are now having trouble finding gas.   © Vietnam News Agency

TOMOYA ONISHI, Nikkei staff writer

HANOI — Gasoline stations in and around Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s economic engine, are being forced to suspend operations due to shortages of the fuel.

A tangle of reactions to a constrained petroleum market — including government price controls and distributors’ decreasing profits — has worsened the matter, increasing the burden on domestic refineries.

While these refineries are moving to increase gasoline production, it will take time for Vietnam to fully solve the fundamental problems behind its petroleum crisis.

The government in mid-October called on two refineries to boost output to the maximum extent possible in a bid to meet domestic demand. The government also asked distributors to speed deliveries to gas stations.

PetroVietnam, the country’s largest state-run oil company, has responded by raising the operation rate of its Dung Quat refinery in the central province of Quang Ngai to 109% from 107%. A refinery executive said the rate can be pushed to 110% or even higher, should the government make further requests.

Oil refineries generally save some production capacity even when declaring they are running at 100%. When they crank up production during emergencies, their operation rate can surpass 100%.

At the Nghi Son refinery in the northern province of Thanh Hoa, in which Idemitsu Kosan of Japan has a major stake, production at the beginning of the year had to be substantially cut as it failed to procure sufficient funds to import crude oil. Since April, however, the refinery has been operating near full capacity. According to a refinery source, the plant can afford to increase its operation rate.

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“Please Don’t Panic Buy”: France Taps Strategic Reserve After Gas Stations Run Out Of Fuel

October 5, 2022

“Please Don’t Panic Buy”: France Taps Strategic Reserve After Gas Stations Run Out Of Fuel

There are “emergency” reasons to drain one’s petroleum reserve – like, for example, approaching midterm elections that give you absolutely no right to drain a country’s strategic reserve but you do it anyway in hope of picking up some votes from idiots who don’t realize that gas will soar to record highs right after the elections – and then there are emergency reasons.

The Biden administration, of course, is dealing with a the quote-unquote emergency…

… while France is about to get hit with a bad case of the real deal.

Several days after we learned that gas stations in France have run out of gasoline due to long-running oil refinery strikes, today the French government said that France has tapped its strategic fuel reserves to resupply petrol stations that have run dry, amid ongoing strikes by workers that have stunted refining production and blocked gasoline deliveries.

Government spokesman Olivier Veran acknowledged “tensions” but said there was no shortage of fuel stocks on a national level. He urged consumers not to panic-buy, which of course is the surest way to encourage panic buying, long lines, rationing and all the ugly scenes from those black and white photos of the 1970s.

In the hardest-hit Hauts-de-France region, authorities didn’t even bother with rationing and banned outright the sale of petrol and diesel in jerry cans and other portable containers.

“We are obviously monitoring very, very closely the situation together with the operators and, here and there, when it was necessary, we have used our strategic stocks to enable the stations to be supplied,” Veran told reporters.

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Panic-Buying Could Leave 90% Of UK Gas Stations Dry; BoJo Considers Calling In Army To Resupply

September 27, 2021

Panic-Buying Could Leave 90% Of UK Gas Stations Dry; BoJo Considers Calling In Army To Resupply

UK politicians panic as similarities to the 1970s-style “winter of discontent” of shortages and socio-economic distress have already materialized. Prime Minister Boris Johnson requested the Army to begin fuel deliveries to petrol stations.

According to Reuters, 90% of petrol stations could run dry across major metro areas on Monday after buying panic accelerated the crisis of low fuel supplies due to a shortage of truck drivers.

The buying panic began shortly after BP plc, a multinational oil and gas company, warned last Thursday that a shortage of truck drivers is inhibiting the oil company’s ability to transport fuel from refineries to its network of service stations. By Saturday, lines of cars spilled over into the streets at petrol stations and continued into the new week. The shortage has been made worse because of hoarding.

The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), which oversees about 5,500 independent petrol stations, said about two-thirds had run dry by Sunday night, and the Reuters figure is 90% by Monday.

PRA chairman, Brian Madderson, said hoarding had worsened the crisis as it may take weeks to restock fuel supplies in the country. He said the government’s plan to increase heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers would not be a quick fix.

Speaking with BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend, Madderson warned:

“I’ve talked to a lot of our members… They serve the main roads, the rural areas, the urban roads, and anywhere in between 50% and 90% of their forecourts are currently dry, and those that aren’t dry are partly dry and running out soon.”

In a move to boost HGV drivers, the government is considering calling the military to transport fuel to petrol stations. The country needs at least 5,000 more HGV drivers after it lost drivers post-Brexit and after the COVID-19 pandemic, which adds even more woes not just to the fuel supply chain network but has also disrupted food supplies at supermarkets.

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Venezuelans Face Gasoline Shortages

November 1, 2018

Venezuelans Face Gasoline Shortages

Consumption

Cars, motorcycles and buses wrapped around Caracas’ gas stations earlier this week as oil production and refining becomes increasingly erratic in the former petro giant.

The fuel shortages have expanded across the country as Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s refineries run at the lowest rates seen this year amid a lack of crude oil and as Cardon, the country’s largest refinery, is still shut after an Oct. 15 blackout. In total, the state-run oil company’s five refineries are operating at less than a quarter of their capacity.

While the situation is nationwide, shortages tend to be less frequent in the capital, where the government is trying to prevent growing unrest. The gasoline lines are one more element adding to Venezuelans’ daily plight, which includes scarce basic goods amid hyperinflation, regular power outages and lack of public transport.

Despite the government’s efforts, a number of gas stations have closed in Caracas this week, forcing drivers to bounce between stations before forming in line at those still open for service.

Gas prices are still the among the cheapest in the world in Venezuela. The black market rate earlier this month was less than one cent per gallon. If you’re low on cash, pump attendants often accept snacks as payment. President Nicolas Maduro has yet to increase prices after vowing to do so at the end of September.

Venezuela’s Oil Ministry and PDVSA officials declined to comment.

Panic Buying of Gasoline in Florida, 40% of Miami Stations Out of Gas: Blame Anti-Gouging Laws for Shortages

September 7, 2017

Panic Buying of Gasoline in Florida, 40% of Miami Stations Out of Gas: Blame Anti-Gouging Laws for Shortages

As Hurricane Irma nears Florida, everyone is in a rush to fill up their tanks. About 40% of the gasoline stations in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region are now without fuel. Floridians have turned to the Crowd-Sourced ‘Gas Buddy’ App to determine which stations still have gas.

The above image from the web version of Gas Buddy Tracker. Zoom into the area you’re looking for gas to see the red and green symbols indicating fuel shortages. Gas Buddy says the mobile app is more accurate.

Patrick DeHaan, the senior petroleum analyst at Gas Buddy, said their newest feature – the Gas Availability Tracker – has now been rolled out to those who could be affected by Hurricane Irma in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

“The tool seeks to help motorists in need to find gasoline, and certainly in some cases. will also help motorists find stations that have power,” DeHaan said.

The app was developed during Hurricane Harvey in Texas. People can log in to view gas stations in their area. A red fuel pump icon indicates the station currently has gas. A red lightning bolt icon indicates the station has power, especially helpful for those in areas affected by power outages.

The data is largely crowdsourced by users who submit information through the app.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced in Miami that he’s asked the governors of Alabama and Georgia to waive trucking regulations so tankers can get fuel into the city, which is experiencing one of the largest shortages statewide as residents prepare for the hurricane’s landfall.

He told residents of the Florida Keys that “we’re doing everything to get fuel to you as quickly as possible.” Tourists are under a mandatory evacuation order, which began Wednesday morning.

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Some Toronto area gas stations run out of fuel

March 5, 2015

Some Toronto area gas stations run out of fuel

Extreme weather blamed, but some analysts say Canada lacks refinery capacity

Motorists are pulling up at some Toronto-area gas stations to find that the pumps are dry.

The oil companies that supply fuel in the area have said it’s a temporary situation, caused by extreme winter weather and a power outage.

But Natural Resources Canada says southern Ontario and other parts of Canada may face frequent gasoline shortages in the future, as nearby refineries are already operating at capacity.

Without new refining capacity “supply interruptions could become more frequent and increasingly difficult to manage,” the government agency says in an online report.

Canadians increased their consumption of gasoline by two per cent or 800 million litres in the first nine months of 2014, to 38 billion litres.

“Petroleum companies are suggesting this is logistics. I sense there’s product issue somewhere as the weather is not likely to have contributed to this shortfall, which covers the entire Golden Horseshoe,” said Dan McTeague, with GasBuddy.ca, which tracks the price of gasoline.

 

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