Fuel crisis in Kobani due to the closure of M4 highway
Kobani – North-Press Agency
Fattah Issa – Fayad Muhammad
The military operation launched by Turkey and its affiliated armed opposition groups on the 9th of last October in north-eastern Syria, accompanied with the closure of the M4 highway have caused a crisis that affected various aspects of the lives of citizens in several areas in northern Syria, of which the lack of fuel was one of the most prominent crises which are witnessed by the cities and towns of the Euphrates region
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Queues
Hanif Othman, a 44 years old man told North-Press that the fuel crisis began more than twenty days ago, as he, like many others, has to stand in lines at the gas stations for more than four hours a day to obtain diesel, which leads to the disruption of the works of many people whose suffering increase with the lack of fuel with the advent of winter. Othman called for providing diesel and gasoline in at least three fuel stations in sufficient quantities to reduce the congestion.
Poor quality of gasoline
In turn, Walid Abbas, who works as a taxi driver, explained that the crisis of obtaining gasoline began about a month ago, when it was arriving in small quantities and bad quality. He added that a new type of "super" gasoline has arrived at gas stations, but its price is more expensive than before and its quality is better, explaining that they were buying a liter of gasoline for 100 SYP, and currently they are buying a liter for 230 SYP
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The effect of closing M4 highway
The director of Fuel Directorate in Euphrates region, Masoud Bozi, explained that all the Autonomous Administration institutions, especially the fuel directorate, faced difficulties after the Turkish invasion in northeastern Syria, as the fuel (crude oil) came from al-Jazira region, and the closure of M4 highway had a direct impact on the difficulty of transporting these materials. Another reason that directly affected the limited amount of fuel in Kobani, was the transfer of Sirrin Refinery to al-Jazira areas, where the refinery produced monthly about six and a half million liters of diesel, in addition to an amount ranging between 250 thousand liters to one million and 250 thousand liters of gasoline.
Heating diesel
Regarding the distribution of heating oil to the citizens, Mr. Bozi explained that about 99 percent of the citizens have received diesel, noting that the first batch of heating oil will be completed within a period that does not exceed a week. As the Directorate of Fuel began on the second of last September, the distribution of heating oil to citizens via local communes and councils, through special coupons that include distributing 600 liters per each family in several batches, where a quantity of 14 million liters of diesel was distributed until 16-11-2019 in the Euphrates region.