Sudan’s fuel crunch forces drivers to wait days for a tank

In Port Sudan, a sixty-year-old minibus driver named Azhari Mohamed now spends every third day standing in line for fuel rather than working. His routine has shifted from making seven daily round trips between the Shagar neighborhood and the city center to a grueling cycle where he works two days and waits one. A single queue for petrol can exceed five hours, and if the station runs dry before he reaches the pump, he must return to the back of the line. This scarcity has made earning a living significantly harder for drivers who rely on consistent daily movement.

The financial strain is visible in his daily expenses. Mohamed’s vehicle consumes about three gallons of petrol each day, costing roughly 105,000 Sudanese pounds, or $11.30 at the parallel-market rate. With such high operating costs, he is left with only about 50,000 pounds, or $5.40, to support his wife and daughter who is at university. The price of a gallon varies by location, sitting at 40,000 pounds in Gazira State and 35,000 pounds in Port Sudan. Mohamed simply wants the fuel to be available so he can continue working.

Passengers are feeling the direct impact of these rising costs. This month, the Sudan Transport Chambers Union, the body that regulates public and private transport, increased intercity bus fares by 40% and minibus fares by 30%. For Aziza Ibrahim, a thirty-eight-year-old cleaner in Port Sudan, these hikes are severe. She now limits her work to three days a week because travel expenses have become prohibitive. Before the war began, her trip to the central station cost just 700 pounds. Today, fares range from 2,000 to 2,500 pounds on various routes, requiring her to spend 11,000 pounds, or $1.18, for a round trip each day.

Transport now consumes nearly half of Ibrahim’s monthly salary, which stands at 400,000 pounds, or $43. She also faces the added burden of costly diabetes treatment. To cover the difference, she sometimes borrows money to get to work and repays the loan once she is paid. The United Nations Development Programme notes that the war has pushed average incomes in Sudan back to levels last seen in the 1990s. Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces started in April 2023, and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum estimated war-related losses at $20 billion last year.

The disruption extends to the supply chain. Attacks on the Balila oil field, as reported by the World Bank, have cut off supplies to the Khartoum refinery, which previously met about 60% of the national demand for petrol and liquefied petroleum gas. With domestic output down, Sudan relies more heavily on imports. However, a global fuel crisis has raised prices for gas, petrol, and diesel worldwide. Economic analyst Sidi Ohaj argues that government rules for importers have worsened the situation, requiring deposits of 200kg of gold and ownership of storage facilities. Some importers could not comply and exited the market, reducing supply relative to demand.

Ohaj suggests the government should urgently ease import procedures to stabilize the market. He also points to drone attacks that threaten infrastructure and the ongoing war between the United States and Iran, which continues to disrupt global energy markets. These factors leave little hope for quick relief in the near term. The situation is further complicated by the fact that domestic production cannot quickly fill the gap left by the refinery disruptions and import barriers.

Businesses across the country are also absorbing these costs. Ahmed al-Haj, a trader in Omdurman who packages skincare products, reports that higher diesel and petrol prices have increased the cost of moving a tonne of goods by 30 to 50 percent. This increase is passed on to consumers in the form of higher product prices. When power cuts force him to use a fuel-powered generator, his daily operating costs rise even further, adding to the pressure on his margins.

Local delivery costs in Omdurman have doubled, going from 5,000 pounds to between 10,000 and 12,000 pounds. Reaching customers in other states has become nearly impossible for many traders. Ahmed notes that transport and distribution workers are making fewer trips, causing goods to pile up at traders' premises. The combination of waiting lines, higher fares, and reduced logistics capacity is creating a ripple effect that touches every sector of the economy, from daily commuters to industrial suppliers.