A “logistical failure” has kept municipalities in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca with problems in the supply of LP gas or domestic gas, a basic necessity in homes. The supply in dribs and drabs began a little over a month ago in the Ocotlán area and is currently causing a crisis in the state capital. Some bakeries, tortilla shops and restaurants have had to stop their work for hours and even days due to delays in the supply of the input.
Lupita, who makes tortillas by hand, has her shop in the La Cascada neighborhood, ten minutes from the historic center. Her business has been closed for three days due to a lack of LP gas. So far there is no date for the service to be restored, which keeps her only source of income at a standstill.
In that same area, Rubén, a blacksmith, explained that to buy a 20-kilo gas tank he had to wait in line for more than three hours at the Gas de Oaxaca service station. She arrived at 5:00 a.m. last Saturday and there were already several people waiting.
The trickle of LP gas has begun to cause problems in the restaurant sector of Oaxaca. The shortage of the input has intermittently paralyzed activities, reported Andrea Sánchez López, president of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry (Canirac).
Why is there no LP gas in Oaxaca?
The situation is even more complicated for people participating in the December Festival that takes place in Parque Primavera. They have had to wait more than two hours to refill their gas tanks at the Tlalixtac de Cabrera station.
“The participants of the stands have made long lines outside Gas de Oaxaca to refill their cylinders. The gas shortage is complicating things for us, it makes us spend money on electrical inputs or forces us to close for hours, even days, due to not having the input,” said Sánchez López.
If the situation is not regularized, he said, the losses will be greater, since they would not be able to face the peak December season that demands greater consumption of energy due to prolonged culinary preparations.
Pemex’s “operational difficulties” began to be noticed in mid-October in the municipalities of Miahuatlán, Ocotlán and Ejutla. According to personnel from the gas company Gas de Oaxaca, distributors have had to move to other points, such as Tuxpan, Veracruz, or Puebla, due to operational problems at the Pajaritos plant, Veracruz.
These difficulties, they said, are not related to an alleged increase in prices, since this is not possible due to the agreement issued at the time by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which establishes maximum prices approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE).
On October 24, a photograph showed a long line of people trying to fill their gas tanks near the municipal gas market in Ejutla de Crespo.
“Many say they have been without gas for days. Delivery people say there has been a shortage for several days. Citizens are upset because the established routes are not being followed, and they demand that the service be reestablished,” wrote users on social media.
LP gas in Mexico is used by more than 90 million people daily. Its main use is residential (45.8%), followed by services (32.3%), auto transport (11.6%), industrial (8.8%), agricultural (0.37%) and oil (0.6%).
According to the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH) 2022, the most commonly used fuels in Mexican homes are LP gas (76.01%), firewood (13.28%), natural gas (8.62%), electricity (1.5%), coal (0.22%) and liquid petroleum (0.37%).
Source: lasillarota
