Karnataka: Fuel pumbs dry up as firm stops supplies

Is the Russian invasion of Ukraine showing its effects in India? Or is it a case of hoarding and speculating by petroleum bulk dealers? This is the question now on the top of the minds of over 500 bunk owners in Karnataka.

The Nayara Energy bulk distributor in India allegedly has stopped supplying petrol and high-speed diesel and other oil products. The first State in India to suffer this artificial shortage is Karnataka.

"It has been over a week since we got our stocks despite paying all the dues to the Nayara oil bulk distributor in Jamnagar in Gujarat. Many of our bunks have gone dry and we still do not know when the supplies will resume," rued Zahir Mannippady, a pump owner. Speaking to The Hans India on the sidelines of a day-long dharna at the bulk dispensing facility in New Mangalore Port terminus on Thursday, Mannippady and hundreds of other retail dealers have demanded an explanation for this supply blackout for the pump owners who procure fuel from Nayara. "The pump owners are retailers of the Nayara bulk oil products distributor in Karnataka have been regular in paying their dues in advance to the company which is a norm for the petro supply chain. But during the last one week or so none of us is getting stocks. There are pumps that dispense nearly 11-1200 kiloliters on a daily basis. These pumps are spread in remote places in the State, many of which are not serviced by the public sector oil company outlets, especially in the border areas. Central Karnataka is also serviced mainly by these pumps. We want to know why this sudden blackout," said Kotresh, one of the main dealers in Karnataka from Chitradurga.

As a result of this few hundreds of tankers are lining up in front of the Aegis fuel dispensing facility agent of Nayara at the New Mangalore Port waiting to be called. "All this is costing us a lot in terms of tanker rentals, bank debt servicing, delay in payment of employee salaries, interest loss on the payments made to the oil company and other overheads," rued Praveen, another retailer.

Another bottleneck that the retailers experienced are the fact that many fleet owners pay them on a monthly basis for purchasing fuel - mainly High-Speed Diesel will now buy from other outlets elsewhere and hence their payments may also be delayed. "We see a migration of our business to some other area and other dealers," Mannippady said. "Our analysts say that this blockage of stock is nothing but hoarding and speculation by the oil company."