Private petrol stations in Burma must now ration petrol to customers at six gallons per car a day at a fixed price, according to the Ministry of Energy...
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Private petrol stations in Burma must now ration petrol to customers at six gallons per car a day at a fixed price, according to the Ministry of Energy.
The new order also requires customers who buy petrol from a private fuel station to have a license book issued by the Myanmar Petroleum Products Enterprise (MPPE). The MPPE began issuing the license book on March 19.
Car owners can apply at any fuel station for a license book. They must show their car license and a car tax statement.
Recently, a long queue of cars could be seen at many private fuel stations in Burma.
Customers who try to violate the new rules will be banned from buying petrol from private fuel stations for six months, authorities said.
Private fuel stations can sell diesel and high octane fuel according to market demands without limitations.
The new regulation comes about 10 months after fuel stations were sold off by the state and private owners. At the same time, authorities fixed the maximum amount of petrol to sell per car.
The reason behind the ban was to prevent speculators from buying large amounts of petrol at private stations at a fixed price and then selling it back to customers at higher prices in greater quantity.
At private fuel stations, the petrol price is 2,500 kyat (US$ 3) per gallon; diesel is 4,000 kyat per gallon; high octane fuel is 4,100 kyat. On the black market, petrol is 4,400 kyat per gallon and diesel is 4,100 kyat.
The MPPE sells petrol to private fuel stations at a price of 2,350 kyat per gallon. Private stations can buy up to about 8,000 gallons of petrol a day.
Sources close to petrol traders said that some stations regularly set aside a portion of their quota to sell on the illegal market at a higher price.
When fuel stations were first privatized in June of last year, stations could sell petrol according to market demand without limitation. However, four months ago, car owners were rationed to a maximum amount. However, nothing prevented them from buying petrol several times a day.
An official from the Ministry of Energy told Mizzima that the import cost of petrol was about US$ 1 billion last year.
