MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Venezuela paralyzed because of gasoline shortage: supplies rushed in from Houston
Venezuelans have spent hours in lines, as they await a product that has been in short supply for several days in different cities across the country Although Venezuela has 18 refineries throughout the world and six on its own soil, on Thursday most states face a shortage of gasoline that has led to long lines at gas stations around the country. Venezuelans have spent hours in such lines, as they await a product that has been in short supply for several days in different cities across the country.
The morning of Thursday March 23, the country dawned partially paralyzed, as thousands of Venezuelans are unable to head to school or work.
“We are reinforcing our distribution in the center of the country to stabilize the fuel supply … Queues have been generated at some service stations in four states of the country, due to the delay in distribution of gasoline,” said the vice president of PDVSA, Ysmel Serrano.
Serrano said that he has “enough” gasoline produced at the refineries and that he will work overtime until he has stabilized the distribution. He called on the population to maintain calm and “not to believe the false rumors of sectors that seek to spread chaos in the country.”
The alleged “false rumors” have arisen in Venezuela because for several days numerous gas stations have remained closed, while the few who have fuel are the scene of lines that often exceed 50 cars.
Iván Freites, Fedepetrol’s trade union official, reported on his Twitter account: “Two tankers are already making their way through Caracas with two tankers with 600,000 barrels of 91 and 95 octane gasoline that came from Houston bought by PDVSA from Lukoil and Warren.”
Apparently about a dozen oil tankers were waiting at PDVSA ports in Venezuela’s Caribbean Coast, waiting to supply the nation with gasoline, and other refined prod
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Read all commentsThese poor Venezuelans, living under the thrall of a failed ideology. No food, no toilet rolls, no medicines and now no petrol! Haven't they or other people living in South America the nowse to realise what the problem is? Communism, Peronisism, and left wing Socialism just doesn't work! Yes, Capitalism can be cruel but moderate Capitalism brings home the bacon and gives everyone the opportunity to make a decent comfortable life for themselves their families and their fellow citizens too.
Mar 25th, 2017 - 01:46 pm +2@Bisley
Mar 25th, 2017 - 04:39 pm +2I think people do pay attention - to the wrong things : lies and false promises of unscrupulous, populist, left-wing politicians...
This is really sad... and I'm not going to use my comments as an opportunity to bash Maduro or Venezuela.
Mar 24th, 2017 - 10:50 pm +1A large percentage of Venezuelan petroleum is super-heavy, naturally dirty, and very heavy in metals content. All these things are bad, and it is not a easy product to work with. Most refineries can't process it. As a result, most of these ultra-heavy oil cargos have to be processed in American facilities... others cannot do it.
Maduro should be more careful about commenting on the “yankee imperialists to the north”. He could REALLY get a problem if the U.S. decided on not allowing more petroleum refining for his products. It would be a catastrophe.
Production has been lower than desired for a long time, and the impact on cash flow is significant.
Best wishes everyone!
D. Garnet
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