By Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - The authorities said they will intensify measures to prevent retailers from stockpiling oil derivatives as several distributors of fuel and gas were reportedly arrested and referred to court Saturday.

Officials said the new measures are meant to curb a trend among some petrol station owners and gas cylinder distributors to turn back customers claiming that they ran out of supplies in a bid to sell what they have early next month at higher prices.

A substantial rise in prices is expected once the government lifts all fuel subsidies upon Parliament’s endorsement of the 2008 state budget. The Lower House is expected to vote on the draft budget at the conclusion of a several-day debate that is scheduled to start on Wednesday.

Director of Markets Monitoring at the Ministry of Industry and Trade Walid Khatib said inspection teams on Saturday arrested and referred to the prosecution owners of two gas stations, one of them for refusing to sell kerosene to customers, claiming the pump was faulty.

“When the inspectors tested the machine, it was found functional,” said the official.

Another alleged that his stock of kerosene was accidentally mixed with water, which tests proved to be untrue, the official added. Meanwhile, eight gas cylinder retail dealers are also to stand trial for stockpiling.

Citizens in various parts of the country, lining up to buy diesel, kerosene and gas cylinders for heating and cooking, complained of a shortage in the items.

Hassan Taamary, a car electrician in Amman, told The Jordan Times yesterday that he went to three gas stations on Friday evening to buy kerosene. The first two claimed they ran out of the fuel derivative, while he had to stand in line for at least two hours at the third to finally buy his family’s needs.

Other citizens said they could not fill their diesel tanks for central heating as they were told the item was unavailable.

Reports of the imminent hike in the prices of fuel derivatives sent demand skyrocketing late last week and over the weekend.

According to Hatem Abu Orabi, president of the Gas Stations Owners and Gas Cylinders Agencies Association, seasonal daily sales at this time of the year stand at 120,000 cylinders, but Thursday, for example, saw consumers buy 160,000 cylinders.

The high demand led to an obvious shortage that exceeded supplies from the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, he said, denying as baseless allegations of large-scale stockpiling of the commodities for the purpose of profiteering.

Abu Orabi told The Jordan Times that in business terms, it would be a great loss for gas stations and gas cylinder distributors to “hide” the items pending the hike that might take relatively a long period.

Khatib said that the number of market monitors has been doubled to reach 260 employees.

They have the authority, in case the dealer refuses to sell, to confiscate the available quantities and sell them to consumers on the spot.

Khatib added a committee from his department will be monitoring the supplies from the refinery and make a list of retail dealers who made the orders. These same outlets will be inspected to make sure they are selling the commodities to consumers.

In case of conviction, a violator will receive a year in jail and pay a JD5,000 fine. His licence will be revoked immediately while bail will be set at JD50,000.