- RIYADH: Shortage of gasoline type 95 in some regions in the Kingdom may develop into a crisis if suppliers do not quickly inject enough of it to the gas stations, local Arabic daily Al-Riyadh newspaper reported Tuesday.
- Especially in Riyadh region, there is a supply shortage.
The newspaper said the owners of gas stations expressed fears that a real crisis might crop up that could cause economic losses to the country and the companies working in this sector if an immediate solution was not found.
It quoted unidentified sources in the industry as saying that the shortage in the supply of gasoline type 95 resulted from the smuggling of large quantities of this fuel type to other countries.
Abdul Rahman Al-Etaishan, a Saudi businessman investing in this field, said that fuel smuggling to outside countries was the main issue the sector in the Kingdom faced. “If the authorities do not move fast to stop smuggling, our local market may face an acute shortage in petrol,” he warned.
He also said that the shortage in this type of petrol might be caused by the closure of some refineries for routine maintenance or for other technical reasons. He did not expect Saudi Aramco to increase its output in summer, unless there were good reasons for that.
Meanwhile, gasoline salesmen in many stations confirmed the shortage of type 95 petrol and said the situation might worsen in summer.
