Humanizing the Petrol Crisis

With the silence continuing over the petrol crisis in Sharjah and Northern Emirates, the statement that appeared in Gulf News today by an ENOC spokesperson is a real classic.  The quote from Gulf News, the person literally said:

"I cannot give a statement now, don't ask me questions I cannot answer," he said. "I agree that we should be more transparent, I agree 150 per cent, but we have directives not to talk about this issue now."

Pressed for answers, he made casual comments on the weather to change the subject.

Enoc's silent spell lasted for about two weeks while the spokesperson was on holiday after the trouble started. Repeated attempts by Gulf News to contact the company were unanswered.

Get the last drop while you can.

Inspite of everything that's transpired in the last one month, ENOC make it seem like a non-issue and it really undermines the pain and suffering that those who've been stuck without petrol have had to live through.

I know personally of a case where a mother and an infant were stuck in a car in the blistering heat outside a petrol station for hours because it ran out of fuel.  Their son was at a birthday party and the father drove in from Sharjah, picked up the son and then went on rescue the mother and baby.  What type of city are we living in?  I'm sure are thousands of such stories but we don't hear about them unfortunately.  The press won't cover such this in this part of the world so the officials who govern policy sit around twiddling their thumbs and act as if its business as usual.

There is a human element to this story which the country has to be made aware of.  Had the human element been highlighted much earlier during this crisis, I believe we would've seen possibly some answers or a solution transpire much quicker.  Now to sit around and wait till someone fixes the problem in Ramadan leaves us with a sense of hope but as is the case often, it's a a chance of hope that we take with a pinch of salt as promises have been made earlier as well as the residents of Sharjah know only too well which didn't quite pan out.

With the summer holidays coming, one can only hope a lot of families will be away from the torturous summer period and many parents won't have the school pick-up and drop-off's to worry about, but even then, how long can they stay indoor and do nothing until this crisis is resolved?

To read the whole story in Gulf News, click here.  Local blogger, Alexander McNabb has also been writing extensively on this crisis and I'd encourage to have a read at his blog here as well.

The Hangover, ENOC and Abu Dhabi

With everything that's been happening in Sharjah and Northern Emirates in the last few weeks with the petrol shortage and the announcement yesterday that Sharjah was shutting down all branches of ENOC / EPPCO for good, it got me thinking about how Abu Dhabi had come to the rescue again.

ADNOC had said they would fill the void left by ENOC in Sharjah earlier in the week which was in itself an admission by Dubai that Abu Dhabi was again fixing a problem that was essentially Dubai's.

Then this morning there was a series of Tweets by Dubai-based journalist, Tom Gara (@tomgara on Twitter), who is one of the most hilarious journalists out there on Twitter.  He started sending out Tweets about how different the movie, The Hangover, could have been if shot in different locations in the Middle East (click here to read a summary of his Tweets).  He was of course pulling reference to the fact that the original Hangover, which was based in Las Vegas and the sequel, which was shot in Bangkok, was essentially the same movie but based in different cities.

Well, the story of ENOC in Sharjah sounds like the one of Dubai World and their debt repayment.  As different as they make the plot, the end result has been that Abu Dhabi has come to save the day.

As much as we say it shouldn't set the precedent going forward, you can't help but think it has in fact been what we've come to expect.  Hopefully The Hangover III has a different story line and those of in Dubai will hang on to a thread of hope that the next time around, we see Dubai as the superhero that comes to the rescue. 

Double Standards: Petrol & Consumer Rights

While reading this morning's  Gulf News Business section, I saw a photo caption on the continuing fuel shortage in Dubai and Northern Emirates which said "The fuel crisis in Sharjah continues as Emarat, Enoc and Eppco petrol stations faced shortages yesterday...Representatives of petrol retailers were unavailable for comment when contacted yesterday."

On the page facing this, there's a huge headline that reads "Consumer rights on DED radar."

Just look at it these two statements and you see clearly the double standards that exist.  The Department of Economic Department (DED) is quite rightly promoting their consumer rights campaign and ensuring all retailers adhere to a set of standards with regards to exchange policies, etc. for consumers and to also act a policing body when there are consumer disputes.  However, when major petrol retailers refuse to comment or give any sort of clarity, there is silence and we're supposed to accept that as the norm.

Image courtesy: nonprofituniversityblog.org

Something is seriously wrong here and if as expatriates we are to feel comfortable or if Dubai as an Emirate hopes to rope in more international investment, there has to be a certain sense of transparency.  Such headlines and lines outside petrol stations send the wrong message to potential investors in the country and despite all the progress that the country has made, a few negative headlines like this, tarnish the reputation of Dubai and the UAE internationally.  Lines outside petrol stations is something that you expect to see in third world countries and the UAE is definitely not a third world country.

There needs to be an end to the double standards that exist.  If as consumer we are to have rights, then we have the right to demand an explanation from the petrol companies.  If the existing petrol companies can't operate profitably, then open the market to competition and let petrol retailers enter the market and let market forces operate.  At the moment we're seeing clearly that protectionist policies aren't working.  This protectionism seems to be a lose-lose game at the moment.  Changing all of this is something that can happen in the long term but in the short-term, please open up, make a statement and stop acting as if it is business as usual.