By Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - The Cabinet on Tuesday looked into alternatives to the controversial pricing mechanism of oil derivatives, which was adopted after fuel subsidies were removed in February, a government official told The Jordan Times after the Cabinet’s weekly meeting.

He added that the government discussed the current crisis in the local market due to a severe fuel shortage that prevailed over the past few days, adding that authorities are considering feasible solutions and alternatives “to neutralise the profits and losses of gas station owners” when updating fuel prices.

Complaining of a series of losses due to frequent drops in fuel prices, gas stations stopped ordering new shipments from the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (JPRC) days ahead of the update to minimise losses amid a price downtrend, a practice that led to long lines of vehicles waiting for a refill and causing crippling traffic jams.

A Cabinet statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times quoted Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Khaldoun Qteishat as saying the government adopted a monthly pricing basis in updating the fuel prices, after studying all other options.

His ministry started the updates on a monthly basis and then reduced the frequency to every two weeks and then weekly. Critics said the short time between the updates is one reason behind the crisis.

The situation in the local fuel market was back to normal yesterday as scenes of queueing vehicles disappeared while daily consumption rates were around their average figures at this time of the year, according to the Gas Station Owners Association (GSOA).

The fuel crisis erupted after the government Saturday midnight decided to update fuel prices for the seventh time in a row, under which oil derivative prices dropped.

GSOA President Fahed Fayez told The Jordan Times that the JPRC delivered Tuesday around 4,000 tonnes of gasoline 90 and 1,000 tonnes of gasoline 95, compared to a total 9,000 tonnes of both items on Monday and more than 12,560 tonnes on Sunday.

He added that the refinery's deliveries of kerosene yesterday amounted to around 370 tonnes, compared to an average 500 tonnes during the same time last year.

Gas station owners, for their part, said their sales yesterday dropped by more than half what they were on Sunday and Monday.

"Today [Tuesday], I only received one tanker of each type," said Samer Abu Najem, adding that his sales yesterday amounted to around 45,000 litres of all types.