At least 100 gas stations across the country that have quotas for premium diesel would no longer have this fuel, six of them in Guayaquil, according to the National Chamber of Petroleum Distributors of Ecuador (Camddepe).

Along with Guayas, Manabí, Los Ríos, Chimborazo, Imbabura and Napo, there would be other provinces where the problem would stock, and as the hours pass the situation could be recorded in more locations, said Camddepe president Ivo Rosero.

Problems with diesel quotas: the gas station in Guayaquil already ran out of this fuel a week before the end of the month

Last week, a gas station in Guayaquil put up a sign warning its customers: “No diesel. By securing hydrocarbons, quotas are reduced,” in reference to the quota system that the Agency for Regulation and Supervision of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources introduced in July to prevent improper use of fuel. Currently, the capacity is 455 gas stations.

Rosero indicated in the morning that in Manabí alone, around 20 stations have already run out of diesel. In the afternoon, with reports from several provinces, there were already about 100 of them with problems.

The measure was questioned by the trade union that requested its cancellation and filed a protective lawsuit for which a public hearing is scheduled for this Tuesday, September 26, at 2 p.m.; but at the request of the parties, it was postponed to this Friday the 29th at 09:00.

“Again, we are not responsible for possible shortages that may occur at the end of the month, as already happened in August. In the last days of last month, Ambato no longer had diesel, as did several cities in the Amazon,” said Rosero.

The presenter stated that several stations in Manabí no longer have diesel and that the situation is similar in Napo. “It will increase every day and benefit those services that don’t have space. Then, because the neighbor has space, the cell suddenly starts selling for twice as much or more; and, sure enough, the next month that station that didn’t have space was told it had unusual growth and was given space.”

Gas stations with premium diesel sales quotas increased from 109 to 455 in less than a month, most of them in Pichincha

The problem would also appear on the terminals: “There is no normal power supply; They are late in delivering fuel and many stations in Ambat and Loja are currently without fuel, but not because of quotas, but because there are supply problems at the terminals and there is absolute secrecy on the part of the authorities in indicating what is happening”.

He said that in Catamay (Loja) the problem happened this weekend; and in Ambat, from this Monday 25.09. As to the latter, he indicated that the difficulty would extend to Napo, because that city supplies that province of the Amazon from that city.

As for the public hearing, Rosero pointed out that it was postponed because there was a request from the parties as a chamber, because the Agency did not provide data on the traceability of 455 stations in the period January-May 2023, which the union requested. show that the growth is gradual and not unusual, as – according to the presenter – the authorities claim.

Gas stations will present a protection action for the quotas allocated to them for the sale of diesel

While the Agency requested that the trade union submit a list of the stations it represents this protection action with the signature of the legal representative of each station. “With that in mind, today (Tuesday, September 26) we are submitting a brief to the judge appointed to our case, stating why Camddepe represents all gas stations,” Rosero said.

“(The quota system) doesn’t really manage to avoid the alleged diversion that the government says we have mostly towards shrimp farms,” ​​he said, adding that they found the diversion would be happening in “the electricity sector towards the industrial sector.” “. “We showed growth, yes, unusual, of 700%, 500% in the months of April, March, April and May 2023 compared to the same period last year,” he concluded.