Beijing under pressure to tackle oil shortages

Rising anger in China over spreading fuel shortages is increasing pressure on Beijing and the local oil majors to devise a new pricing policy to head off future crises over oil supplies to motorists.

The shortages have begun spreading north from Guangdong, in southern China, which has seen the longest petrol queues in recent weeks, to Shanghai, the country’s commercial capital, and surrounding Yangtze delta.

Although Chinese officials have blamed typhoons for delaying shipments of imported oil, the root cause of the problem is disparity between global and local oil prices, analysts and industry executives said.

Fearing inflation and a backlash from motorists and farmers, the government has refused to allow local pump prices to rise in tandem with the global benchmark.

Financial Times