On March 25, PDVSA informed the subsidized service stations of the change in the fuel payment method: now it will only be through BiopagoPDV
“Now the matter is more complicated, how do I do if I don’t get any type of bonus? They have to explain well, if one can transfer money from the account to the wallet », he commented to Time on Monday, March 28, Manuel Hurtado, an Anzoátegui carrier.
The concern was not isolated or exclusive to Hurtado. The communication sent by PDVSA management to the service stations on March 25, and the statement published on Saturday 26 in the homeland’s blog it left many questions, more doubts than certainties – it also showed severe writing flaws: main idea and secondary ideas were lost in that sea of “promises” of improvements and “considerations”.
*Read: Subsidized gasoline will be paid only through the BiopagoPDV system
The measure was the third change registered in March 2022 in relation to the sale and marketing of fuel. On the 5th of that month, PDVSA indicated that 100 pumps went from selling gasoline at a subsidized price (0.10 bolívares per liter) at the international price (0.50 dollars per liter); 48 hours later, he announced a new refill schedule for subsidized gasoline.
⛽ #Ad || Simplification of the payment of subsidized gasoline: Payment in bolivars will be eliminated and only the payment of liters of the Patria Platform will remain through the BiopagoPDV system.@PDVSA @TareckPSUV pic.twitter.com/nJthEfnFvo
— East Refining (@PDVSARefinacion) April 1, 2022
BiopagoPDV in Barcelona
Anzoátegui was one of the few states where the «spike and plate«, something that days later translated into improvements: this eliminated the kilometric queues and reduced the waiting time at service stations. But after the reduction in the number of subsidized pumps and the measure of March 25, they returned to the stations of Barcelona, capital of the eastern entity.
«I presume that the queues returned because there are fewer and fewer subsidized service stations. The government, instead of looking for solutions for us, is blocking the process more », she told Time José Bermúdez, who assures that in recent weeks he has had to wait up to an hour to be able to stock up.
Also on Thursday, March 30, confusion reigned at the Diorca service station, located on Alterna Argimiro Gabaldón avenue in Barcelona: drivers were not sure if the payment through BiopagoPDV had already entered into force.
Supply failures continue in Falcón
On Monday, March 28, the Falcón-Zulia service station in Tucacas woke up without fuel. “Apparently the truck that supplies the Tucacas pump, one of the few that maintains the subsidized price of fuel, did not arrive,” he told The morning Jairo Estarke, driver who showed concern about the situation.
24 hours later, in Coro, the state capital, long lines of cars began to be reported at service stations. The cause is not only the limitation of the means of payment, but also the lack of payment stations. subsidized gasoline on the Coro-Cumarebo axis.
“The queues will be enormously long” with BiopagoPDV
Azalea Colmenárez, general secretary of the Lara Service Station Workers’ Union, told elimpulsocom that with the new measure “the queues will lengthen enormously, because there are very few stations that can supply this fuel.”
“If before there were 20 establishments that dispensed subsidized gasoline, now there are about ten left, in Barquisimeto, because the others decided to dollarize it,” he explained.
*Also read: Know the steps to follow to pay for subsidized gasoline with only your footprint
Nine trucks daily
In Táchira, the difficulties in supplying fuel go beyond the “Pico y placa” and the BiopagoPDV: nine trucks are currently arriving at the entity daily, when they require 55.
“We have reported that there are 55 daily cisterns that we require for the entire state of Táchira. When we took over, we had been operating with 16 trucks a day and as of this week we began to receive nine trucks a day,” said Natalia Chacón, coordinator of the Fuel Board in the state, through a video published on the social networks of the Governor’s Office; reviewed Faith and joy.
Long queues of cars to fill fuel have been recorded in the Andean region for weeks.
In the interior of the country they continue to suffer from failures in the sale and supply of fuel – and not only the subsidized one. The latest measures taken by the Government and the state oil company have left a bad taste in the mouths of carriers and drivers.
“Instead of improving and looking for the necessary mechanisms to streamline the process, they are complicating everything for us. What they want is to get us to pay for gasoline at the international price,” he told TimeLuis Heudes, who pointed out that he usually has problems with payments through his fingerprint.
