Motorists make beeline for Buraimi to fill tanks
UAE motorists are thronging petrol stations in Buraimi, an Omani town bordering Al Ain, to get fuel at cheaper rates.
UAE motorists are thronging petrol stations in Buraimi, an Omani town bordering Al Ain, to get fuel at cheaper rates.
in Buraimi, a town bordering Al Ain.
Motorists have been clogging the main Buraimi-Al Ain road, and Omani police had to intervene to restore traffic flow several times.
"We had to close down our station for three hours on police request for the restoration of traffic on the road," said Joseph George, manager of an Omanoil Petrol Station in Buraimi.
Fuel prices have increased by 30 per cent in the UAE.
Fuel prices in Buraimi are still unchanged and a large number of motorists have been going there to buy petrol at a cheaper rate. George said the Omanoil super petrol is currently being sold at Dh4.95 a gallon.
"Our existing price almost offsets the recent price increase for the Al Ain residents who have been literally been through our stations in Buraimi," he added.
"We have been operating round the clock and have so far sold about 33,000 gallons of petrol from this station which is just a few hundred feet across the UAE border," he said.
Petrol stations in Buraimi have been getting extra supplies from Muscat, about 350km away from Buraimi, to meet the the increased demand.
"We don't have any problem with the supply as who have told to pick up as much of the business as we can," said George.
He said business has been brisk for the last three days as most of the customers have been coming here from Al Ain.
Some of the petrol stations have also closed down their car wash services temporarily and reallocated workers to serve at the fuel dispensers.
Naresh Kumar, supervisor at a Shell petrol pump, echoed the same view, saying motorists from Al Ain have been queuing to buy petrol.
On the other hand, petrol stations in Al Ain city have fewer customers.
Many people stocked up on petrol just a day before the new prices came into effect.
There were huge queues at petrol stations in Al Ain a day before the implementation of the new tariffs.
A majority of these motorists are taxi drivers who are upset by the price hike.
They say fuel prices have gone up but the authorities have not increased the taxi fare in Abu Dhabi emirate for the last 20 years.
