The Egyptian Petroleum Authority said it was monitoring fuel supplies across the country following skirmishes at petrol stations that left 16 people hurt.
At least 16 people were injured in Egypt during fuel-related fights, including a weekend gunfight at a gasoline station in Upper Egypt, the daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reports.
Security forces were patrolling the areas to control the situation. Local officials maintain that fuel supplies sent to gasoline stations were enough for local consumption, the newspaper adds.
Egyptian Petroleum Minister Abdullah Ghorab said the Egyptian Petroleum Authority pumped nearly 300,000 barrels of fuel in the last five days to meet regional demands. Consumption was listed at around 260,000 bpd.
Ghorab said the ministry was concerned smugglers and black-market traders were taking supplies from the local market. He warned that the crisis would escalate unless service stations and port authorities didn’t monitor supplies adequately.
He noted that supplies could be at a premium as the harvest season approaches in Egypt.