Blockages cause lack of fuel in SC and in the region of Campinas

Fuel supply problems are getting worse in regions where there are still road blocks due to coup demonstrations. Fuel distributors are already talking about a “real risk” of shortages across the country.

In Santa Catarina, around 70% of the gas stations are out of products, according to the local dealers’ union. The state concentrates most of the road closures in the country, according to data from the PRF (Police Federal Highway).

On social networks, many reports of closed posts, including in the capital Florianópolis. Sindipetro-SC says that two supply bases in the state have been reopened and, therefore, expects the supply to begin to resume this Wednesday (2).

In the region of Campinas, the local union estimates that around 80% of the gas stations are out of products, mainly gasoline and ethanol. The region is supplied by the Paulínia Refinery, the largest in the country, which was isolated by road blocks in the region.

The government of São Paulo sent the Tropa de Choque to unblock roads and the expectation is that the supply will be resumed. According to the PRF, almost 2,000 fines have already been applied to drivers who are blocking highways across the country, and the value of the punishments already exceeded R$ 18 million by the afternoon of this Wednesday.

“If [a crise] persist, tomorrow will be chaos”, says the union president, Emílio Martins.

The local situation led the Municipality of Limeira to declare a state of emergency and determine that stations reserve 5% of their stocks to supply the municipality’s fleet of essential services, such as police vehicles and ambulances.

Martins points out that the normalization of supply will take at least a week, as demand will be high and logistics have been disrupted by the blockages. At the end of this Wednesday, with the clearing of roads, some stations began to receive fuel.

In Rio Grande do Sul, where roads were unblocked throughout the day, deliveries were also made again, according to the president of the local union, João Carlos Dal’Aqua. He does not rule out, however, that there are still gas stations in the state.

Representative of the major fuel distributors, the IBP (Brazilian Institute of Oil and Gas) reinforced requests for greater coordination in the management of the crisis.

“With still hundreds of total and partial road blocks, the IBP expresses its great concern about the real risk of fuel shortages in some centers across the country, with an inevitable impact on people’s lives and economic activity”, he says.

The institute praised some of the measures announced by the ANP (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis) on Tuesday night (1), such as the release of minimum stocks. But he criticized the release of gas cylinder brands and the easing of direct sales of gasoline and diesel to gas stations.

According to the sector, one of the critical points is the difficulty in obtaining biodiesel to compose the minimum blend of 10% in the diesel sold at gas stations. Distributors and gas stations want flexibility in the mix.

In Rio Grande do Sul, for example, the arrival of anhydrous ethanol and biodiesel depends on roads in Santa Catarina, the state with the highest number of blockages.

The release of access to the Paulínia Refinery can also relieve airports, which depend on the delivery of QAV (aviation kerosene). A distributor representative told Sheet that trucks with the product have already started to leave the refinery.