Imad Rajabi – Palestine Economy Portal

Translated by Tamara Barakat

Jamal Al-Asbah, the owner of the Golden Company for Gas, describes the gas crisis in Ramallah, saying, “The employees at the station emptied the remaining gas in the barrels of the citizens, and then closed the station and went home. There is no gas left in the city.”

He also informed the Palestine Economy Portal that this crisis is affecting a lot of cities, including Ramallah and Hebron.

At this same time two years ago, a similar gas crisis occurred. Al-Asbah believes the crisis resulted from the lack of enough warehouses for gas storage at the Palestinian Petroleum Authority. Additionally, the Petroleum Authority prohibits gas stations from importing gas from any source other than it.

The gas companies’ storage of gas does not exceed over 8500 tons – an amount that does not suffice for more than a week in the West Bank, noting that the West Bank’s gas consumption reaches around 15 – 18 thousand tons per month in winter, while it does not exceed 8 – 9 thousand tons during the rest of the year.

The Palestine Economy Portal spoke to several sources that work in the gas field, and they confirmed that gas is available at Israel, but the problem lies in the fact that the Palestinian Petroleum Authority has an agreement with the Israeli Paz Oil Company that states that gas can only be imported to the PA from it.

The Palestine Economy Portal tried to contact the Palestinian Petroleum Authority to get a statement on the issue, but the Authority did not answer the Portal’s calls.

The head of the Petroleum Authority, Fuad Shobaki, denied on Sunday that there is a gas crisis in the West Bank, and described what is going on as a small decrease in the amounts of available gas. However, the crisis increased and no gas is left at many stations.