In Tamil Nadu, the State Government and senior officials of the Public sector oil companies had a meeting to review the availability position of Diesel in the State in general and Chennai City in particular in view of the reports of shortage from pockets in the City.

The oil Industry officials brought out their viewpoints with regard to the availability of diesel in the State.

A press release issued in Chennai states that the problem is expected to be solved as product from other refineries and imported product have been moved through coastal movement to meet the huge demand of Tamilnadu

BPCL,IOCL and HPCL are planning to move the tankers which is expected to berth in Chennai by tomorrow.

The oil companies have appealed to all the consumers not to take more than their requirements and hoard diesel. The State Government has warned that severe action would be taken against hoarders

The oil companies in the meeting with the State Government officials complained that the increased demand was due to power generation to run gensets in business ventures like shops, hotels and business establishments.

It was pointed out that the increase to substitute diesel in place of furnace oil was another reason for the shortage

The oil companies said that the unplanned shutdown of one of the units of Chennai Petroleum Corporation from 27th April to 14th May had also impacted the availability of diesel in Tamilnadu Andhra and Karnataka.
For the past two days, the city of Chennai virtually came to a stand still as more than a thousand retail outlets remained shut down in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts It was not a welcome monday for office goers, since vehicles ran short of petrol even as long queues were seen outside the petroleum outlets waiting for hours together to get one or two litres of petrol.Anyhow the issue is poised to be settled tomorrow.