After buying fuel from filling stations, unlicensed resale will be strictly investigated and action will be taken in accordance with the law, said U Than Zaw, Secretary of the Fuel Import, Storage and Distribution Supervisory Committee.

"If found transporting, storing, or selling fuel without a license, the minimum fine is 300,000 kyats and the maximum fine is 500,000 kyats, or imprisonment of not more than one year or both. In addition to such punishments, the property related to the crime will be confiscated. Therefore, those who buy fuel at gas stations and sell it outside without a license, or sell it without a license in their homes, yards, anywhere, will be investigated and action will be taken in accord with the law, U Than Zaw warned.

Currently, there are long queues to buy fuel at filling stations in Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon, Mandalay and some other regions and states. There is panic buying following the rumors about fuel shortages and price hikes. Thus, people are buying more than their normal consumption amounts, he pointed out.

"I have heard that some users are unsympathetically purchasing  and storing fuel and reselling it for a profit. I have also heard that CNG taxis are also buying fuel for other uses without needing fuel, so we have instructed petrol stations not to sell fuel at all to CNG taxis."

These days, over 230,000 gallons of 92 Ron, 120,000 gallons of 95 Ron, over 130,000 gallons of HSD and 240,000 gallons of PD were distributed in surplus to the licensed shops opened in Yangon Region, Mandalay Region and Nay Pyi Taw, U Than Zaw said. 

He added that long queues and purchases of fuel more than the necessary amount had forced some filling stations to halt their sales as their stocks ran out.