Reply #64: Petrol shortages fuel frustration in Tripoli

[tabatha]

Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:53pm GMT
TRIPOLI, April 26 (Reuters) - By day the streets of Tripoli are quiet and markets subdued, but tension is rising as petrol shortages force Libyans to queue at the pumps overnight.

Residents say scuffles are breaking out at petrol stations. Queues, hundreds of cars long, block streets. One resident said he queued all day on Monday only for the pump to run dry before his turn came.

"I've been here three days. I've been sleeping and waking in this line until it's my turn," said another resident, Mohammed al-Marini, who was a few cars away from reaching the pump.

"I tried other stations but they were empty. I thought this one was better organised."

The government of Muammar Gaddafi cut the price of petrol from 0.2 dinars ($0.169) a litre to 0.15 a litre early in the crisis, but anger over shortages is rising among Libyans long accustomed to subsidies from the state, which produced 2 percent of the world's oil supply before the war.

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE73O0HE20110426?sp=true