Some pumps at fuel stations belonging to the Government’s Strategic Supply Network (REPA) are already empty. The fuel strike kicked off today, Monday the 12th of August, and the effects are clearly visible in the Algarve.
Even so, the scene at some stations could even be described as calm, because even though the strike has started, many people took last week as an opportunity to prepare for the possible crisis which could ensue this week. This lack of queues at many stations across the Algarve may be the calm before the storm, and at least for now there is no rush to the gas stations.
According to the data provided by the website “Já não dá para abastecer”, which monitors the availability of fuel and diesel at stations across the country, in the Algarve there are only eight gas stations that still have petrol. Moreover, 75 no longer have neither petrol nor diesel. However it is nothing that whilst being previously reliable, this is not official information.
Pumps at stations belonging to the Strategic Supply Network, which has been specially designed to cope with this situation, have been capped at a limit of 15 litres per person, whereas at all other stations, the limit is 25 litres. This is of course if there is any fuel in the first place.
At a time when the Algarve’s population has tripled due to the influx of tourists, there were worries that this strike may affect the operation of the hotel industry, but the National Entity of the Energy Sector (ENSE) has ensured the public that the region will full gas deposits for both hotels and hospitals. An ENSE official has assured Prime Minister António Costa that "there are autonomous gas units in the Algarve that have enough fuel for seven or eight days."
The strike currently has no end in sight, which is a worrying prospect when by late morning today there was already no fuel available at almost 28% of the country's stations.
A list of Strategic Supply Network stations can be found here: http://www.ense-epe.pt/rede-de-emergencia-de-postos-de-abastecimento-repa/
