Distributors Withhold Diesel from Market to Make Gains, Hakim Vows Action

Diesel disappeared from the market in several regions as the fierce winter storm Windy started to lash Lebanon, mainly because of the distributors' preference to smuggle it to Syria, which prompted Economy Minister Alain Hakim to make an inspection tour on Friday and to pledge quick measures to stop what he described as a “crime.”

The scarcity of the vital petroleum product was mainly noticed in the Bekaa region, where residents rely on diesel for heating in extremely cold weather conditions.

Earlier on Friday, head of Akkar's Jurd al-Qaitaa municipal union Abdul Ilah Zakaria urged the economy minister to act against those monopolizing diesel in the northern region, noting that residents were suffering “an extreme shortage of this substance.”

The calls pushed Hakim to tour the petroleum companies in the afternoon to oversee the deliveries.

“It is unacceptable to manipulate the prices of diesel and this is a crime that we will put an end to as soon as possible,” the minister vowed.

“We asked the army and its Intelligence Directorate to help in curbing the illegal export of diesel,” he added.

Stressing that the inspection measures will involve all companies, Hakim revealed that diesel disappeared from the market due to “legal and illegal export to Syria and the sale of diesel to Syrian refugees for high prices.”

In this regard, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Friday that “merchandisers are benefiting through reexporting diesel to Syria in an illegal manner, seeing as a ton of diesel is being sold to Syrians for around $1,000 while it is being sold for $500 in Lebanon.”

The second factor behind scarcity is “the smuggling of large quantities of diesel by land,” the daily added.

Another factor is monopolizing the substance and withholding it from the local market in anticipation of a rise in price in the next two weeks.

Hakim had warned Thursday to withdraw the license of any company “monopolizing diesel and failing to distribute it to meet the needs of the Lebanese market."

Y.R.

M.T.