‘No fuel to Gaza unless paid for in advance’

Ramallah: The General Directorate of Petroleum in Palestine has ordered Gaza based petrol stations to pay cash when ordering their petrol supply otherwise the directorate will not provide them with any petrol. The directorate’s decision regarding petrol supplies has raised suspicions and complaints in Gaza which currently has no supply of Egyptian fuel after the destruction of the vast majority of the underground tunnels.

“I cannot take the risk of providing Gaza based petrol stations with their needs to the order of 150 million Shekels {Dh 150 million) and wait for a month or later to start collecting the money,” said Foad Al Shobaky, who heads the General Directorate of Petroleum in Ramallah in an interview with Gulf News.

He said that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) does not have any control over Gaza which makes collecting money from fuel suppliers harder at a time when the Israeli company which supplies the petrol wants immediate payment.

“This is a high financial risk which would add financial hardships to the already sick Palestinian treasury,” he said. “My decision is final and will not be reversed.”

According to Al Shobaky, Gaza based petrol stations should register their daily petrol requirements with the Gaza General Directorate of Petroleum and pay for the order in cash. The orders and finances will be transferred to the PNA General Directorate of Petroleum which will dispatch the paid quantities on the same day, if possible, or within two days via Karm Abu Salem Crossing. “Even in the West Bank, which is under PNA control, a total of 150 petrol stations have been shifted to the cash payment system and do not receive their quantities unless their order is paid in cash,” he said, stressing that the PNA General Directorate of Petroleum is the only body authorised to buy petrol from the Israeli company and sell it to the various petrol stations in the Palestinian territories.

“Gaza based petrol stations never had an agreement with the Israeli company to provide them with petrol quantities,” he said.

Since 2007, Al Shobaky said, Gaza based petrol stations used to take 100,000-300,000 liters of petrol from the PNA General Directorate of Petroleum, but the situation has now completely changed as “Gaza needs at least one third of the total Palestinian consumption of petrol.”

He said that his directorate has a credit letter with a ceiling of 600 million Shekels with the Israeli company. “Gaza would need about 140 million Shekels to meet its petrol needs,” he said, adding that the West Bank stands in need for 55 million litres of petrol a month while Gaza needs about 25 million liters a month.

“This case should not be presented in any way as a political issue. It has to do with the Palestinian national budget and the directorate’s determination not to take any risks,” Al Shobaky said.

He stressed that the General Directorate of Petroleum will not change its policy to bring it in line with the natural gas supply to Gaza which is handled in the same way the West Bankgas supply is organised.

The association which advocates for petrol stations in Gaza urged the PNA and the General Directorate of Petroleum in a statement to reverse its decision and give Gazan stations a month grace period to settle the prices of their petrol quantities.