Residents say scuffles are breaking out at petrol stations. Queues, hundreds of cars long, block streets. One resident said he queued all day on Monday only for the pump to run dry before his turn came.

“I’ve been here three days. I’ve been sleeping and waking in this line until it’s my turn,” said another resident, Mohammed Al-Marini, who was a few cars away from reaching the pump.

“I tried other stations but they were empty. I thought this one was better organized.”

The government of Muammar Qaddafi cut the price of petrol from 0.2 dinars ($0.169) a liter to 0.15 a liter early in the crisis, but anger over shortages is rising among Libyans long accustomed to subsidies from the state, which produced 2 percent of the world’s oil supply before the war.

Even before the conflict, Libya imported gasoline to supplement petrol produced at its own refineries. With the refinery at Tobruk in rebel hands and Ras Lanuf on the front line, Qaddafi is relying largely on the 120,000 liter-a-day refinery in Zawiyah to supply the government-held west.

UN sanctions banning dealings with Libya’s National Oil Company have also made it difficult for Qaddafi’s government to import fuel. Tankers carrying fuel are being turned back by NATO forces enforcing the sanctions, Libyan officials say.

Qaddafi’s government has circumvented the sanctions by having petrol delivered to Tunisia, then transferred to Libyan vessels. The trade exploits a loophole in the sanctions that permits purchases by Libyan companies not on a UN list of banned entities.

But the volumes getting through in this way have been relatively small.

“There are delays because of the maritime blockade and this negatively affects the lives of civilians,” government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said.

Reporting on the queues — and the growing anger they cause — is difficult because foreign journalists in Tripoli are not allowed out of their hotel unless accompanied by government officials. Reporters’ requests to visit fuel stations have so far not been met.

Shops seem well-stocked, though the petrol shortages may be preventing some fresh goods from reaching market.

Some people said they were unable to reach their offices as they have run out of petrol.

Others complained that petrol stations are being run by neighborhood gangs who give priority to neighbors or who stockpile gasoline in barrels and plastic containers to sell on at multiples of the official price.

“I was queuing from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. last night. Each queue is for a neighborhood and the people who live there get priority,” said one taxi driver.

“If someone pushes in front of you, you cannot do anything because they will get their friends to beat you up.”

One driver passing through the Libyan border last week said he filled up in Tunisia, though petrol was more expensive there.

“I filled up in Tunisia. It cost me 65 dinars. You know how much it costs to fill up in Libya? 9 dinars, but there are shortages. The queues are too long. What can I do?” said the driver, who gave his name as Ahmed. “Does this seem like an oil-exporting country to you? It is in need of reforms.”

Before the crisis in Libya, petrol smuggling went in the other direction, residents on both sides say. Tunisians would cross the border to buy much cheaper petrol in Libya and smugglers sold Libyan petrol in plastic containers by the side of rural Tunisian roads. But times have changed.

The taxi driver said he had worked at the oil facilities at Ras Lanuf for years, but people originally from western Libya were expelled when the rebels arrived.

“People from the west used to work in the east because that is where the oil is, not in Tripoli... Even if they had not asked us to go, you worry for your safety,” he said.

“I am working the taxi now to pay the bills.”