The Lebanese Syndicate of Gas Station Owners and Fuel Distributors announced that they are going to give the government 72 hours to find a solution for the issue of petrol or they will raise the price of a tank of gasoline to 1,900LL, away from the official pricing by the Ministry of Energy and Water.
They had previously decided to give the government an ultimatum of 48 hours then they backed down from their decision after the new government was formed.
However, with the government not listening to their demands, they have decided now that the ultimatum is back on the table “between 2 to 3 days” for the government to come up with a solution.
The syndicate had previously sent a written letter to the prime minister, explaining in it the “suffering of the gas station owners” and demanding a “final solution for the losses that they have accumulated over the last 4 months.”
George Brax, a member of the syndicate and chairman of Brax Petroleum, explained to Al-Markazia news that they are awaiting a meeting with Prime Minister Hassan Diab and the Minister of Water and Energy, Raymon Ghajar, to discuss possible solutions for the petrol crisis.
“The majority of gas station owners do not believe that they will be able to reach a solution with the government because, despite our best efforts to communicate with them, we have yet to hear a response from them,” Brax explained.
“They simply don’t understand the reality of this situation and are only interested in maintaining their positions,” he said.
This isn’t the first time the syndicate tries to bring the attention of the officials on their issues.
Last November, they held an open strike, and also early December where most gas stations across the country decided to shut down due to the increasing price of the dollar that they used to buy fuel. As a reaction to the strike, many motorists decided to block the roads in protest of the petrol crisis.
Will the government listen to the demands of the gas stations or will the people suffer as a result of their inability to deal with the situation? The days ahead will tell.
