Queues for petrol in Khartoum shortened on Saturday after weeks of shortages, residents and a state-linked fuel company said, while the energy ministry said ships at Port Sudan were unloading petrol and diesel for the capital and the states. Diesel remains scarce.
The fuel crisis in Sudan's capital eased on Saturday 7 November, especially for petrol and to a lesser extent for diesel, as the authorities announced new deliveries, Sudan Tribune reported in Arabic.
Resident Ahmed Abdel Rahman told the paper that waiting times at filling stations had fallen markedly and that he had queued for only about 40 minutes for petrol, although lines for diesel persisted. He urged the authorities to improve diesel supplies, saying shortages pushed up transport fares and the cost of moving goods. In recent days a gallon of petrol had sold for about 70,000 Sudanese pounds on the black market against 50,000 at stations, and diesel for about 80,000 against 49,000, the paper said.
Official statements
Nabta Petroleum said in a statement on Saturday that queues at petrol pumps at its stations had disappeared completely, which it described as a sign of more stable supply, and that it was working to secure diesel. The undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and Oil, Ali Abdel Rahman, said several ships at Port Sudan were continuing to unload significant quantities of petrol and diesel, and that the ministry had begun pumping quotas to the states. He said deliveries to distribution points and stations in Khartoum had been stepped up. Neither statement gave volumes or a timetable for clearing diesel shortages, and CERHA could not verify supply levels independently.
Context
Weeks of shortages in Khartoum have pushed up transport costs and the price of basic goods, as CERHA reported on 6 November, and have also hit other cities including Nyala and Port Sudan, as well as agriculture and aid deliveries. UN officials said last week that dozens of aid trucks had been stranded by fuel shortages. The government said earlier this month that fuel ships were arriving and that it was in talks with the World Bank on energy support.
The shortages coincide with a campaign of drone strikes on power stations and fuel depots in army-held areas, which Port Sudan blames on the Rapid Support Forces. The Critical Threats Project has recorded 21 sets of RSF strikes on fuel facilities or power stations, including around Ed Damazin, Wad Madani, Rabak, Sinja, Omdurman and Khartoum. Diesel is vital for irrigation pumps, generators and freight, and its scarcity weighs on the winter growing season. Black-market fuel trading has been reported in several cities; Radio Dabanga reported on 4 November allegations that army personnel controlled a parallel fuel market in Wad Madani; CERHA has not seen an army response.
Image: Traffic in central Khartoum, Sudan, 2003. "Scuba Beer", via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.