Lebanese Gasoline Issue – Foreign Policy Youth Collaborative

With the worsening gas shortage in Lebanon, gas prices have risen approximately 35 percent as of June 30th, 2021. Currently, Lebanese residents are waiting hours to fill up their cars with gas and many stations across the country have been forced to close due to their inability to provide fuel for customers. Hospitals throughout Lebanon are struggling through this economic crisis due to daily power outages lasting for hours and shortages of diesel fuel for backup generators. Along with this, hospitals are facing a lack of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals.

Despite enduring the struggles of a heatwave, the Lebanese are required to switch off even their private generators in order to conserve diesel, while many hospitals are also deciding to turn off their air conditioning. Cuts in electricity are affecting cities across the country, while various bakeries and supermarkets are warning of closures in the future due to shortages of fuel.

As the fuel situation becomes critical, fights and shootings at gas stations have been breaking out, specifically one in the city of Tripoli where a man was killed. Gas station workers have become the targets of daily attacks across the country.

[Lebanese drivers are seen lining up in their cars for hours to get gasoline amid fuel shortages.]

This raise in fuel prices by the Lebanese government is a move aimed at resolving the crippling shortages across the country. However, an increase in prices is mounting pressure on impoverished citizens. In order to make the crisis more understandable, I will explain that people in Lebanon are currently paying approximately 43,500 Lebanese pounds for solely five gallons of fuel compared to 23,000 Lebanese pounds before the economic crisis. Citizens that are already unable to afford basic groceries face severe stress as they wait for hours to fill their cars with gas.

This crisis is dangerous for all Lebanese citizens and a specific family is a significant example of the danger this fuel crisis presents. On June 22nd, a Lebanese mother and her four daughters were on their way to the airport to meet their father as he returned from working abroad in Africa. On the way to the airport, the family needed gas, stopped at multiple stations, and came out with no luck. As they made their way to a gas station someone had directed them to, they got into a severe car accident as a result of a vehicle that had been driving on the opposite side of the road in order to bypass the line for the gas station. The mother and her four daughters died instantly, leaving the father distressed and without his family. Another danger that is posed as a result of the gasoline crisis is that multiple residents are having jugs of gasoline delivered to their homes where they are storing them. Some residential areas have already experienced fires as a result of gasoline that is unsafely being stored in homes.

Furthermore, as this crisis arrives in the summer, even with the country’s dire economic conditions, Lebanon is welcoming a huge flow of tourists, increasing the demand for fuel. Since Lebanon lacks a metro system and has few public buses and transportation, the citizens rely on their cars and motorcycles to make their way around cities. Currently, citizens are worried about not having enough money to fill up gasoline once the government subsidies are lifted. In my opinion, in order to move this crisis along and work towards ending it, the government needs to secure fuel imports continuously, and the government must ensure the delivery of fuel directly to stations. Otherwise, there is a risk of smuggled/stolen fuel, decreasing the availability at stations across the country.

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Written by: Leya Ahmad