DENPASAR, Indonesia: Hundreds of people protested a petrol shortage that authorities have blamed on supply disruptions on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Thursday, as hours-long queues built up at gas stations.
Officials urged residents to stay calm this week, noting there was enough fuel to go around on the island that relies on shipped-in gasoline and diesel supplies.
Long lines stretched more than a kilometer (0.6 miles) at several gas stations in the provincial capital of Denpasar on Thursday, according to an AFP reporter, and around 500 people rallied outside the governor’s office.
“This is such a mess... we’ve been standing in line for four to eight hours. I just hope the government’s response will be much better,” Adolf Alfino, a 21-year-old university student attending the protest, told AFP.
The supply disruption was due to delays in distribution after a tanker had trouble discharging its cargo, according to state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina.
The tanker carrying more than 22 million liters of fuel had arrived in Bali Tuesday, with the supplies expected to be able to meet demand on the resort island for up to the next seven days, Governor I Wayan Koster said Tuesday.
However, another protester, Ibram Syahbani, said he was disappointed that the government could not solve the problem within two days as promised.
“I’m pretty fed up with the situation right now. My family and I are really affected by it too. And like it or not, we must join the queue,” the 23-year-old store attendant told AFP.
Wayan ordered government employees to work from home for three days starting Thursday, while schools and universities would switch to online learning during the same period.
Indonesia has already been grappling with fuel shortages this year since the start of the Iran war that has disrupted global energy supplies.
Jakarta introduced a policy limiting fuel purchases in March and ordered civil servants to work from home every Friday, part of the government’s efforts to save energy.