Esso station operators in the Klang Valley claim that their businesses have been affected when they did not receive petrol and diesel supplies from the oil company lately.

The disruption in the supply of the commodity raised questions among operators of the petrol stations whether the problem was linked to the change in management following the take-over of Esso Malaysia Bhd by Petron Oil and Gas International Sdn Bhd.

Petron Oil and Gas International, a unit under San Miguel Corporation, acquired 65 per cent interests in ExxonMobil International Holdings Inc including Esso petrol stations and the Esso oil refinery in Port Dickson in the transaction that was reported to have been concluded on March 30.

An Esso fuel pump operator in Kuala Lumpur claimed that his station located in a strategic area in the federal capital did not get sufficient supply from the company.

"We frequently ran out of supply early because we received no supply for two weeks and I wondered why this situation that is incurring losses to me came about," he said when contacted by Bernama.

A similar situation was also experienced by another Esso station operator in the Damansara area who was wondering why the problem had cropped up.

"If their (supply) delivery is okay, such a problem will certainly not arise," he said.

A petrol station operator in the Sungai Besi area had to close shop temporarily today when his petrol supply ran out and diesel stock ran low.

"I had to wait for supply for 15 hours since last night and they only delivered some diesel which only lasted up to 1pm today, forcing the station to be closed to the anger of many irate customers.

"The problem arose when the Petron Oil company took over Esso abruptly and we had to face the problem of erratic fuel supply," he said.

Meanwhile, the president of the Petrol Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM), Datuk Hashim Othman said it would be an offence if the oil company failed to supply adequate fuel to consumers.

He said action could be taken against oil companies that failed to ensure sufficient petroleum supply to petrol stations under their care.

"The licence stipulates that the fuel must always be supplied where the supply cannot be disrupted for 24 hours each day, failing which it will be considered as a breach of the agreement," he said.

Hashim said the station operators were also responsible to report the problem to the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism so that an investigation could be carried out on the company concerned.

"So far, we have not been informed and there had been no complaint from operators of the petrol station saying that there was a supply shortage," he said. -- Bernama