Algiers — As fuel traffickers and the Algerian government wage an energy war during the peak usage time of summer, ordinary motorists are left to pay the price.

Algeria has the cheapest fuel prices in the region, making the country fertile ground for smugglers.

Algerian drivers and government officials are equally tired of watching millions of litres of petrol and diesel end up in Morocco and Tunisia.

"Smuggling of fuel is a gangrene on the national economy. Enough is enough," Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi said Monday (July 21st) in El Oued.

The government decided to clamp down on cross-border petrol trafficking, but initial steps by walis to ration the supply of fuel sparked a crisis that now threatens to spread across the country.

In El Oued, coach drivers have already staged a strike to protest the "discriminatory" rationing of fuel.

"It's the smugglers from neighbouring provinces of Ouargla and Illizi, which border Libya, who are to blame," the transport union argues. "The drivers from El Oued shouldn't be punished because of what other people have done."

Speaking in Ain Defla on July 14th, Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said that fuel trafficking was as much a security problem for Algeria as it was an economic one.

A quarter of Algerian fuel ends up in smugglers hands for sale across the border. And the proceeds help fund networks of drug traffickers and terrorists, the minister said.

The wilaya of Tlemcen consumes more fuel than Algiers, Ould Kablia added.

Tlemcen wali Abdelwahab Nouri says that more than 265 million litres of petrol, with a value of 4 billion dinars, were smuggled out of the wilaya into Morocco last year.

There are 70 petrol stations in Tlemcen province. This is high, given the size of the local population and the number of registered vehicles. Most of the fuel ends up across the border.

So the wali cut the fuel quota for service stations in half.

Morocco confirms Algeria's claims.

Nearly 1.63 million litres of smuggled petrol from Algeria were seized in just the first five months of this year, Moroccan Finance Minister Nizar Baraka said. And cross-border fuel smuggling costs Moroccan oil companies billions every year, Moroccan Petroleum Group (GPM) chief Youssef Aherdan points out.

The introduction of rationing spurred "hallabas" (smugglers) to head further afield for fuel: to Sidi Bel-Abbes, Ain-Temouchent and even Oran.

But cars with two fuel tanks and large lorries are easily spotted at checkpoints, making it harder for the smugglers to move around.

Some 2,000 such vehicles were impounded last year. As soon as they are auctioned off, the smugglers buy them back and pick up where they left off, locals complain.

Algeria's petrol price is among the lowest in the world, at 23 dinars (.22 euros) per litre. In Morocco, it is nearly five times higher, at about 12.25 dirhams, or 1.1 euros.

It is no surprise that cheap fuel is big business along the border.

At daybreak, thousands of lorries and old Mercedes, Renault 21 and 25 and Peugeot 504 and 505 cars - with hanging bumpers, busted indicators and smoking exhaust pipes, and fitted with second fuel tanks that have capacities of up to 300 litres - start queuing up to buy petrol or diesel.

At night, the couriers, or "mules", carry 30-litre jerry cans across the border.

A 2005 law stipulates jail sentences of up to five years and hefty fines for trafficking fuel, but the hallabas appear unconcerned.

More than 80 per cent of the quota allocated to Tlemcen wilaya ends up in Morocco, leaving ordinary motorists to fight it out for the remainder.

Fed up of having to suffer long waits for a few drops of petrol, citizens are voicing their frustration.

"Enough, Mr Wali! Hallabas get lost!" hundreds of people demanded at a recent rally outside Tlemcen Provincial Hall.

"We, as residents of Tlemcen, believe that the institutionalised smuggling of fuel to Morocco has gone on for long enough. In signing this petition, we call on the authorities to take draconian action to end this fraudulent trade, which is causing considerable disruption to the lives of people in the region," demonstrators said in a Facebook statement.

The signatories urged the wali to reverse his order limiting fuel sales.

The situation shows no signs of improving. Main roads are being closed and fights are breaking out at petrol stations.

The fuel crisis is now spreading to neighbouring provinces.

At the other end of the country, along the Tunisia border, the wali of El Tarf on June 27th ordered petrol station owners to keep records of customers' names, vehicle models, registration numbers and fuel purchase totals.

If service stations fail to comply, the governor's office will close them down for three months.

This measure angered station owners, who argued that keeping such records was the job of the security services. They even offered to provide office space for a police officer to carry out the task.

The best way to stem the smuggling activity, the owners say, would be to set up more checkpoints along the border. They should not be the ones held accountable for fixing the crisis.

"The cross-border fuel smuggling is happening right in front of everybody's eyes and everyone knows about it," says Mustapha Zebdi, the vice-president of the National Consumer Federation.

Zebdi claims that in border towns, fuel is poured into tanks and openly sold to smugglers.

In Tunisia, Algerian fuel is being sold for more than three times the purchase price, Zebdi points out.

The crisis is beginning to spread to the central region of the country, including Algiers, where some petrol stations are running out of unleaded petrol and diesel.

Said Akretche, the CEO of public fuel distribution company Naftal, says his company has stepped up deliveries over the past few days to cater to the high public demand for fuel during the holiday season.

"Naftal has deployed all physical and human resources necessary, increasing its deliveries by over 20 per cent on aggregate and by more than 100 per cent at the petrol stations where demand is highest," Akretche said.

"We are even delivering fuel at night," he added.