Abu Dhabi: The Dubai-based oil retailer Emarat said Wednesday all its petrol stations that suffered due to a shortage of fuel would return to normal operations by Friday.
In a statement issued through the WAM news agency, Emarat said the “shortage occurred due to logistics issues as a result of fuel tankers not arriving to the loading docks as per the delivery schedule”.
The company also said that it resorted to rationing fuel in stations to ensure that supply was not completely cut and extended its apologies to its customers and the public for the panic that the fuel shortage might have caused.
Long queues At the time of writing this story, Gulf News learnt that more than 50 petrol stations of Emarat in Dubai were running dry due to unavailability of the fuel at the pumps which was causing long queues at pumps operated by Enoc and Eppco, the other Dubai fuel retailers.
“We will not have enough volume to cater to the whole of the UAE’s petrol requirements in case this situation lingers on. We hope the matters at Emarat will be resolves as soon as possible,” Khalid Hadi, Director of Brand and Corporate Communications for Enoc and Eppco told Gulf News by telephone.
“Otherwise, some of our pumps may also begin to run dry,” he added.
This is not the first time Emarat fuel stations have run dry. Last year, in September, some of its filling stations ran out of petrol as the company rationed the fuel to cut costs due to higher import prices.
The four UAE oil retailers — Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc), Enoc, Eppco and Emarat bear the subsidies on petrol sales, which at prevailing international prices of crude, are mounting by the day.
Gasoline prices in the UAE are state-set. The pricing of the fuel is a sensitive matter as price hikes invariably stoke inflationary pressures.
Earlier, Khalid Hadi, Director of Brand and Corporate Communications for Enoc and Eppco had told Gulf News: "We will not have enough volume to cater to the whole of the UAE's petrol requirements, in case this situation lingers on. We hope the matters at Emarat will be resolved as soon as possible".
"Otherwise, some of our pumps may also begin to run dry," he added.
Local media reports, earlier, attributed the shortage of petrol at Emarat pumps to "logistical problems", quoting the company spokesman.
"The [problem] will be resolved in 2 to 3 days," the official was quoted as telling Reuters.
"We're restocking at the moment and I think our network will get back to shape in a couple of days," he said. "We had a logistical problem at the port. It has been one cargo only but our distribution programme has been disrupted," he added.
