Mossel Bay feels the effects of low fuel supply

DANA BAY NEWS - Like many South Africans, Mossel Bay residents flocked to their local fuel stations yesterday, 31 March, to fill up their vehicles with petrol or diesel before the steep hike in fuel prices came into effect today, 1 April.

At about 17:00 yesterday afternoon, the Astron Energy station in Dana Bay had only unusable fuel available (fuel that cannot be safely used in vehicles due to impurities in the tank that sink to the bottom and go undetected once it is in the fuel pumps. These impurities cannot be retrieved, and the fuel is thus unusable).

The station’s owner, Du Toit van Niekerk, told the Advertiser they had tried to keep the tanks of useable fuel as full as possible, well before the increase in fuel prices.

Despite planning ahead, the station still ran dry, unable to meet the demands of the desperate consumers.

This morning, however, Van Niekerk confirmed that the station now has fuel again, albeit a small amount.

“We thus received another small delivery of unleaded petrol this morning at 06:00, and only a small amount of diesel, but we are doing everything we can to acquire more quality Astron Energy product to keep all our customers happy,” he said.

Many Mossel Bay residents claim that some fuel stations are purposely withholding petrol and diesel in order to maximise profits, an allegation Van Niekerk strongly denies.

“We apologise for the inconvenience, but it was definitely not done for profit,” he said.

Reports of low fuel availability and the rationing of fuel at stations in and around Mossel Bay first began surfacing around 19 March, despite assurances from the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources at the time, which stated that there was no immediate risk of fuel shortages in South Africa.

The shortage stems primarily from instability in West Asia due to the US and Israel’s war on Iran, which began on 28 February and has affected the world’s fuel supply, including South Africa.

Previous articles:

‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’