Fuel crisis deepens amid indirect supply control and panic buying | Nagpur News

Nagpur: On a day several petrol pumps shut down and serpentine queues outside several pumps clogged traffic, top officials said it’s not panic buying alone that has triggered the fuel crisis. The problem lies deeper, and only restraint by consumers can help in preventing a bigger crisis, say sources in the petroleum industry and retail vendors. There’s no official rationing of petrol or diesel, but there is certainly an indirect control over supply so that fuel is sparingly used amidst the West Asia conflict. It is also the need of the hour that the stock lasts till the Iran war ends, said officials.The oil crisis that followed the war forced petroleum companies to abruptly stop the age-old practice of providing credit to dealers. Since the last couple of days, depots have also curtailed working hours. The twin measures slowed down the turnaround time for pumps to replenish their stocks. Till last week, the depots would operate late into the night, filling up tankers sent by petrol pumps. The practice has been stopped, and depots are only operating till 6pm and remain shut during weekends. As this slowed down replenishment by the outlets, there was a sudden rush of consumers. Messages were spread on social media that fuel may soon run short and one needs to fill up tanks. The system came crashing down after that, said a source in the business.Petrol pumps at Nagpur get their supplies from three major depots. The nearest is run by Bharat Petroleum Company Limited (BPCL) at Borkhedi, 35km off the city, which also caters to other companies. The next is 75km away, run by Nayara Energy, an Indian company with Russian stake — it also caters to PSU oil companies. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has a depot in Chandrapur, 160km away.The timings have been restricted at each depot, apart from the advance payment system. The Nayara facility, which has slots for each oil company, announced that filling of HPCL’s pumps would only happen till 2.30 in the afternoon. The tankers that came after the deadline returned empty, said petroleum dealers. “There is a strict insistence on advance payment. Many petrol pump owners initiate the payment by depositing money at the bank branch. By the time the amount is credited in the oil company’s account, it’s time up at the depots, leaving tankers empty,” said another dealer.Amit Gupta, president of Federation of Maharashtra Petroleum Dealers Association (FAMPEDA), confirmed there was a restriction in timing at the depots. However, Gupta also appealed that panic buying will worsen the crisis. Refilling of petrol pumps has slowed down, but panic buying acted as a catalyst. Even two-wheeler owners who would usually fill up a litre or two are filling their tanks. The huge crowds are drying up local stocks.Talking to TOI, a BPCL official said, “there’s no change in payment terms for dealers. On restriction of timings, it depends on the load. Depots also operate overtime and on holidays, if tankers are waiting.”A source in a PSU oil company said timing curbs and scrapping credit have been done to rationalise the systems and prevent hoarding. Often, the petroleum dealers send tankers even if they have enough stock, leading to unnecessarily higher offtake from the depots. Now they would have to wait till the stock levels indeed touch rock bottom, a source said.