Maputo — The city of Maputo is once again being hit by disruption of fuel supplies, mainly petrol, which is the main reason behind long queues in most filling stations in the capital.

On Monday, long queues and confusion were the main features in most of the filling stations around Maputo, mainly from the state owned fuel company "Petromoc" that still had some stocks of fuel.

However, even Petromoc that responded by increasing supplies to its filling stations, was selling under some restriction, reports Tuesday's issue of the daily "O País".

According to "O País", Petromoc's filling station located at Karl Marx Avenue was working as a "life buoy" for hundreds of drivers, who rushed to that filling station seeking for fuel.

The problem of fuel shortages that first hit Mozambique by the end of last month has infuriated a number of drivers who blame the government for the current crisis, due to the lack of a swift action.

"The government must do something to change this situation. We have left other things to do just to seek fuel", said one the drivers.

Petromoc, that recently had pledged to supply the whole country without any restrictions, has issued a communiqué acknowledging that it is unable to supply the whole market.

However, it assured that is doing its best to bring the situation back to normal. Petromoc argues that the increase in the demand of fuel in the last few weeks is behind fuel disruptions, because this increase demands some extra logistics.

Speaking to reporters in the southern resort of Chidenguele, where the Coordinating Council of his Ministry last week, Energy Minister Salvador Namburete admitted that negotiations between the government and fuel distribution companies are moving slowly, but he insisted that there is no deadlock.

Namburete said, "The process is slow because whatever is agreed must satisfy all the parties involved, so that nobody will turn round tomorrow saying he regrets what he has signed up to. Negotiations are continuing, but there will be no deadlock".

The government has promised that it will compensate the fuel companies for the difference between the world market price of fuel and the domestic price fixed by the government. Under discussion now is the exact form of that compensation.

The government has abandoned its former policy of reviewing oil prices every month, and raising or lowering them if the price of importing refined fuels, expressed in the local currency, the metical, moved in either direction by over three per cent. Instead the government has pledged to maintain the current prices until the end of the year.

Those prices are remarkably cheap by the standards of the two years prior to March. Petrol costs 23.1 meticais (about 86 US cents) a litre, diesel 22.45 meticais a litre, and kerosene 15.58 meticais a litre.