Refineries claim normal supply, but Chennai reels under diesel shortage

Chennai city is in the grip of acute diesel shortage. Many fuel stations that belong to Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum say they are cleaned out of diesel. Dealers attribute the shortage to lower supply of diesel from the refineries supplying the Chennai region.

In some of the bunks, petrol was being rationed as well.

At an Indian Oil bunk in the city, a public sector company employee, who spoke to

Business Line , said he was surprised to find that the bunk allowed one to fill up only for Rs 500 and not more. Mr Krishna Kumar, an IIT professor, was mortified this morning when he drove around to find at least 10 petrol bunks closed. “At one point in time, I panicked, wondering if there was enough petrol in my car to drive back home.” Finally, at one bunk he could tank up on Speed, Bharat Petroleum's premium fuel. “I don't know if all of them really ran out of stock,” he said.

According to Mr D. Vijaykumar, the owner of a petrol bunk on the East Coast Road, bunks belonging to Bharat Petroleum were facing shortage of Euro IV grade diesel, which is the diesel allowed to be sold within city limits. However, on the city's outskirts, diesel was freely available since it is the Euro III grade being retailed.

However, when Business Line spoke to officials in Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Mangalore Refineries Ltd, both clarified that their units are operating at normal levels and so were supplies from their units.

There are nearly 300 petrol bunks in the city, which retail about 2 lakh litres of diesel every month, according to an industry source.

>raja@thehindu.co.in