KOTA KINABALU: The low supply issue of subsidised diesel faced over the past few days in Sabah should be resolved by now, says Datuk Armizan Ali.
The Domestic Trade and Costs of Living Minister said there was no issue of quota reduction for the subsidised diesel and the report the ministry got from the ground was that there were some petroleum companies that limited the sales of their diesel supply.
“It is not that these companies ran out of supply, just that some limit the sales of the supply per customer. But this issue should be resolved by now,” he said when contacted, Saturday (Dec 30).
This comes following concerns from the public over diesel shortages due to signs put up at some petrol stations, telling customers that their supply has either run out, that one vehicle is limited to refuelling RM50 worth of supply, or that the gas pumps were faulty.
Armizan said the ministry is making sure that all petrol stations that have this problem or have limited the sales of diesel to report to them as soon as possible.
He said this included having these companies explain why this step had to be taken, and how much supply was needed per day for every area that their gas stations were operating.
“Oil and gas companies, by right, should inform the ministry in detail how much distribution is made to every gas station that is facing low supply problems,” he said.
A quick check of several gas stations under different companies found that as of afternoon Saturday, only Petron seems to have a low subsidised diesel problem.
Sabah West Coast Smart Consumers Association president David Chan said from his observation and a brief survey done on the ground, he found that other petrol stations do not have this problem anymore.
“There are some stations that might have run out of their supply but you can go to another station under the same company to refuel,” he said.
He said it was quite normal to have one station run out of subsidised diesel faster than the other due to locations and customer preference, more so during this festive season.
However, Chan urged the government to look into this shortage of diesel issue that has caused a concern among users earlier this week.
“Maybe someone ought to explain what actually caused the shortage as the situation has caused some form of inconvenience to consumers,” he said.
On Dec 26, PETRONAS issued a statement on its website informing customers that it was facing a diesel supply issue that was affecting some of its stations nationwide.
It said that the problem was expected to persist until Dec 31, 2023.
Then on Dec 27, it issued another update, on resumption of diesel supply at its stations.
“PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad is pleased to inform that the diesel supply will be fully restored at all affected PETRONAS stations within the next two days,” it stated.
A source from PETRONAS Sabah when contacted said that the matter has been resolved and supply has been restored accordingly since Friday (Dec 29).
