Rumours of a possible fuel crisis due to delayed arrival of a ship carrying Bharat Petroleum Corporation limited (BPCl) stock led to unusual long queues at filling stations across Odisha, including the capital city of Bhubaneswar, on Monday.
As per sources, the ship was supposed to arrive at the Paradip Port on Friday last but was delayed by two days leading to the BPCl filling stations in the city going dry by the day.
The temporary suspension of supplies to the BPCl tanks created pressure on Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum bunks. The ruumors of crisis situation led to panic buying by vehicle owners.
The ship, however, arrived at the port on Monday and oil supply was normalised at most BPCl filling stations.
According to Utkal Petroleum Dealers’ Association general secretary Sanjay lath, two filling stations in Bhubaneswar were closed on Monday. While the Hindustan Petroleum (HP) filling station near Ram Mandir Square was closed for maintenance, the all-important Rehman filling station at Rasulgarh ran out of fuel.
Sources said four oil refineries of India are being upgraded to the Euro-IV standard affecting fuel supply in the country. While north and western India have already been affected because of this upgradstion, Odisha remains less affected because of its coastal location and access to sea routes. The State usually receives oil from Mangalore, Kochi and Assam.
While there are about 300 filling stations of BPCl in Odisha, eight of them are in Bhubaneswar. The delayed arrival of the tanker affected about 150 of BPCl filling stations throughout the State.
Out of the total fuel sales in Odisha, the Indian Oil has a 40-per cent market share, the BPCl 31 per cent and the HP 29 per cent.