Junta cracks down on people buying petrol above rationed amount

The Myanmar military regime is cracking down on people trying to purchase more than the allowed quantity of fuel amid an ongoing shortage, according to regime-run media. The junta-controlled newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Friday that authorities would detain and prosecute anyone caught queuing up at the petrol station after already purchasing the amount of fuel allowed by the official quota, or reselling fuel at a higher price. The regime—which has made it impossible to import fuel in the usual amounts due to restrictions on its access to foreign currency—has assembled a special anti-trafficking task force to investigate and arrest people defying the quota. One man was arrested for queuing up more than once at a Denko fuelling station in Hlaingtharyar Township, Yangon on December 14 when authorities found a petrol container in the back of his car. The next day, authorities seized ten 50-gallon petrol containers from a vehicle that had repeatedly gone through the queue at a petrol station. Its owner had been reselling the petrol near the Kyauktai bus stop in Thaketa Township, Yangon. Vehicles queuing for petrol in Yangon, seen on December 11 (EPA) Phyo Oo San, deputy director of the Petroleum Products Regulatory Department (PPRD) at the junta-controlled Ministry of Energy, told Myanmar Now that people joining the queues for fuel with the intention of reselling it illegally rather than using it themselves may face prosecution for breaches of the Petroleum and Petroleum Products Law. "What they're doing is queuing up to buy petrol and then selling it on the black market. Some people are guilty of stockpiling more petrol than they actually need. You can't hoard oil illegally like that. If they continue, they'll be subject to arrest. It's the law concerning oil and petroleum products," he explained. He added that the law’s purpose is to regulate the fuel industry and fuelling stations, which primarily means preventing the storage or distribution of fuel without proper licensing. The law states that trading in petroleum or petroleum products without a license carries a prison sentence of up to one year or fines between 300,000 (US $140) and 5 million (US $2,400) kyat, and that the products traded may be confiscated as public assets. Charges for breaches of the law were brought in eight separate cases in Mandalay and Sagaing regions between October and December. By mid-December there were 29 new cases pending in Yangon and Ayeyarwady regions and the Naypyitaw Union Territory, all of which involved repeated queuing at fuelling stations and buying petrol for resale, the junta-run newspaper said. Sixteen petrol stations in the cities of Yangon and Mandalay were also charged with fines for failing to sell petrol they had in stock or selling above the mandatory controlled price. Authorities also reportedly placed restrictions on the same fuelling stations’ licenses and shut down others entirely as a penalty for breaking the petroleum law. Insufficient access to American dollars and other foreign currencies under the junta had necessitated cutting petroleum imports, according to one petrol station owner from Mandalay region who asked that his identity be withheld. This resulted in a shortage of fuel supplied to petrol stations and the emergence of a black market as consumers responded to the scarcity, he said. “Some people queued up because they wanted to earn a bit of extra cash,” he added, referring to buyers intending to resell the fuel. He also described changes in the regulations on petrol storage and distribution, including a new requirement that petrol stations had to acquire their retail supply within three days of receiving a purchase permit. This created significant difficulties for stations located far out of town who were unable to access the wholesale supplies at Yangon ports promptly, according to the station owner, who added that he was concerned these conditions would lead to another fuel crisis in the coming days. "They issue purchase permits to petrol stations, but they seem reluctant to actually supply them with inventory. Some receive permits on paper but face obstacles when they actually try to make purchases," the station owner said. According to a taxi driver in Yangon, who also asked to remain anonymous, there are still queues to buy diesel and other fuels, and the price of petrol is still rising. He said that short supply of fuel had become a major problem, and that junta troops were now regularly extorting bribes from illegal fuel-selling stalls that had sprung up all over Yangon's Shwepyithar and Hlaingtharyar townships. “Because of the fuel shortage, market mechanisms are breaking down everywhere. In Hlaingtharyar, there are many garment factories that run on diesel because there is no electricity. Some factories have cut their workforces. Some have suspended operations. The problem is that they can’t get fuel," he said. PPRD deputy director Phyo Oo San attributed the current shortage to black market trade that had emerged and continued due to panic buying. Since the beginning of the fuel crisis some two weeks earlier, he added, there have been restrictions on storing and moving petroleum products in quantities greater than 50 gallons. Defying these restrictions would result in prosecution under the Petroleum and Petroleum Products Law, he said. During previous fuel shortages, gas station owners say they were able to support each other by sharing their supplies, but this was no longer possible. The more time that elapsed since the coup, the more they were cut off from wholesale supplies, they said. The military claimed control of Myanmar’s American dollar reserves after seizing power in 2021, later selling about half the dollars needed to import fuel and cooking oil, two of Myanmar’s primary import products, to importers at a discounted rate. The military regime sold 40 percent of the currency needed to import petrol to importers, and 50 percent of the currency needed to import diesel, at the undervalued rate of 2,100 kyat to the dollar, then sold the remaining required dollars at the market rate. They also fixed the retail price for the limited quantity of fuel distributed to petrol stations. As access to dollars became more restricted, the junta finally announced a discontinuation of dollar sales at the discounted rate. Regime spokesperson Maj.-Gen. Zaw Min Tun, who has rarely acknowledged any scarcity of fuel in Myanmar, said at the time that this change might affect the fuel supply in the country.

Junta cracks down on people buying petrol above rationed amount

An ongoing fuel shortage reached crisis levels this month as the regime, strapped for foreign currency, stopped distributing dollars to fuel importers at a discounted rate

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