China Out of Fuel in 3 Months? 14 Straight Price Hikes, Fuel Rationed, 38M Truckers Fight for Fuel

Oh, my goodness. They say gas prices are going up tonight. Look at how many people have come to fill up. The gas station is packed. Everyone is here for gas. I usually buy 100 yuan worth, but today I plan to pay 200 yuan worth. That should last me half a month. There are so many people. This is going to take a long time. This is Sinopec, one of the country's two state oil giants. They have diesel but refuse to sell it. They're waiting for the prices to go up at midnight. Come and see. This is one of China's two oil giants, and they simply won't let us fill up. Everyone, if your tank is running low, hurry up and get fuel. Since yesterday, every gas station has imposed limits. Trucks can only buy 500 yuan worth. From yesterday until now, I've stopped at four stations and bought 2,500 yuan worth in total. 500 at each of three stations and 1,000 at another. I don't know how I'm going to get fuel today. With Iran under blockage and the Chinese Communist Party unable to obtain cheap crude, widespread fuel shortages are emerging across China. The National Development and Reform Commission announced that, effective at midnight at the end of October 29, standard gasoline and diesel prices were due to rise by 440 yuan and 420 yuan per metric ton, respectively. To ease the burden on users while ensuring a secure, stable supply of refined fuel, The actual increases were limited to 345 yuan and 335 yuan. Ahead of the price increase, gas stations across China began rationing fuel. Some limited each vehicle to purchase of 200, 300, or 500 yuan at a time. Others capped each purchase at 13.2 or 39.6 gallons. One driver wrote in the comments, We used to worry about diesel getting more expensive. Now, we don't even know if we can fill the tank. Meanwhile, large numbers of trucks arrived at gas stations, forming long lines. This guy is all about fighting. The drivers are fighting. They're fighting over fuel. These prices are getting ridiculous. Everyone is lining up to fill up, and two vehicles even got scraped. On October 29, during the rush to buy diesel at a gas station in Bayan County, Harbin, Heilongjiang, led to a dispute among truck drivers over their fuel allocations. The incident came amid recent diesel shortages in many areas. Truck drivers are not looking for a fight. An empty tank means they cannot take jobs or earn money. With blanket fuel limits, ordinary truckers bear the brunt. Unless supply problems are resolved, the lines will only get longer. I'm a driver from Huaihua, Hunan. I hauled a load to Jiangmen, Hubei, and finished unloading. My tank was nearly empty, so I came here to fuel. The attendant said they had fuel but wouldn't sell it to me until after midnight. He was waiting for the price to go up. I've called the police and the 12345 public service hotline. Let's see how the government handles it. I was tired and frustrated, so I argued with the attendant. I told him that if he wouldn't sell me fuel, he should refund my fuel card. He said I hadn't bought the card there, so he couldn't refund it, and he still wouldn't give me fuel. The police spent a long time mediating before the station reluctantly sold me 26.4 gallons. I never go out looking for trouble. We're all just ordinary people trying to get by, but I still have to stand up for my legal rights. I'll leave it at that. I won't name the station today. Diesel shortages continue to spread across China, with tight supplies also reported in Guangzhou, Guangxi, and Zhejiang. Unable to fuel an excavator, some workers had to transport it around town on a truck, searching for a gas station. Their design caption read, No fuel. Work has stopped. There's nothing we can do. Estimates put the increase for 92-octane gasoline, 95-octane gasoline, and No. 0, a diesel, At 0.27, 0.29, and 0.28 yuan per liter, respectively, for a private car driven about 1,243 miles a month. With fuel consumption averaging 29.4 miles per gallon, fuel costs will rise about 20 yuan before the next price adjustment at midnight at the end of November 12, 2026. After the increase, 95 octane gasoline approached 9.6 yuan per liter in many areas, about 36.34 yuan per gallon. In Hainan, it exceeded 10 yuan per liter, or about 37.85 yuan per gallon. The most expensive gas in China is right here in Haikou, Hainan. 10.80 yuan per liter, or about 40.88 yuan per gallon. We don't have road or bridge tolls. Those charges are built into the gas price. So Hainan has the highest gas price in the country. 兄弟们,油价从今年1月份到10月30号。 Everyone, look at how much gas prices have risen from January to today, October 30th. At the start of January, 92 octane gasoline averaged 6.68 yuan per liter. By October 30th, it was 8.85 yuan. That's an increase of 2.17 yuan, or a full 33%. For 95 octane gasoline, the price rose from 7.11 yuan to 9.41 yuan per liter, up 2.3 yuan, or 32%. That is a huge increase. Filling a tank now costs over 100 yuan more. If you fill up four times a month, you could be spending an extra 500 yuan. That's 500 yuan more every month. Think about what that adds up into a year. On October 26th, a person in Heilongjiang posted a video showing farm machinery and other vehicles lining up at the gas station. The caption said, fuel was now almost impossible to get. One commenter said the autumn harvest is when farm machinery uses the most fuel. Waiting in line for fuel was more tiring than harvesting corn. With another price increase that night, drivers were even more frustrated. According to Time Weekly, this was the 14th increase this year. Gasoline prices have risen by a total of 2,720 yuan per metric ton since the start of the year. In Guangdong, for example, filling a tank now costs about 100 yuan more than it did in January. Media reports attributed this round of increases mainly to international oil prices, with Brent crude remaining above 100 a barrel. Comparisons with other countries are even more unsettling. Converted into yuan per liter, gas costs 17 yuan in Germany, 17 yuan in France, about 9 yuan in China, 8.1 yuan in the United States, and 7.8 yuan in Japan. But once income is factored in, the real strain becomes clear. The cost of filling a 13.2-gallon tank as a share of income shows the true difference in the burden on drivers in each country. Filling a tank costs US drivers just 1.4% of their monthly income. Chinese drivers have to spend 9.3%. The same 13.2 gallons takes only a small fraction of an American's income, but nearly a tenth of a Chinese driver's. The burden on Chinese drivers is 6.6 times that on Americans. Even more troubling, as global oil prices soar, other countries are subsidizing drivers and low-income households. Only the CCP is passing the entire burden on the people at the bottom. Hello everyone, the price of oil has gone up recently. Everyone, these soaring fuel prices are getting hard to bear. People on low incomes earn just over 3,000 yuan a month. Now, 92 octane gas costs over 8 yuan a liter, and they say it may rise by By a few tenths of a yuan again. Take the United States. Gas there costs a little over $4 a gallon, which is about 3.7 liters. But put simply, that just covers over a dollar a liter. Ordinary people here earn 3,000 or 4,000 yuan a month and pay over 8 yuan a liter. Ordinary Americans earn 3,000 or 4,000 dollars a month and pay just over a dollar a liter. That's why huge vehicles are everywhere in America, and people aren't worried about using so much fuel. They earn $3,000 or $4,000 a month and pay only about a dollar a liter. For ordinary people here, the pressure really is heavy. As fuel prices keep climbing, people who drive frequently are the first to struggle. Mr. Kuang, a salesman who drives often for work, reportedly spends about 3,000 yuan a month on fuel at current prices. His Haval SUV uses 95 octane gasoline. A gasoline worker also confirmed the pressure from rising prices. He estimated that 92 octane gasoline would cost about 8.9 yuan per liter after the increase, while 95 octane gasoline had already reached 9.6 yuan per liter in some areas, about 33.69 and 36.34 yuan per gallon, respectively. Filling a 13.2 gallon tank with 95 octane gasoline costs about 480 yuan, nearly 50 yuan more than at the start of the year. This surge in fuel prices has hit drivers directly in the wallet, sparking public anger and political satire. Why can the oil rise to 9.1%? Gas can rise over 9 yuan a liter because ordinary people don't own any oil. It's only because America and Iran are fighting, or because oil production has fallen. Grain prices don't rise because ordinary people actually have grain. If PetroChina and Sinopec produced grain, they would find 10,000 reasons to raise prices until ordinary people couldn't afford it. If ordinary people could grow oil in their fields, they would control its prices just as they control grain prices. They could keep it below 1 yuan for 30 years. I think gas prices are still too low. Yesterday, I bought 92 octane gas at 868 yuan a litre. I don't know what you pay. I think that's too low. Keep raising it. Just make it 100 yuan a litre. Wouldn't that be great? At 868 yuan, I can still grit my teeth and buy a little. Set it at 100 yuan a litre and I'll give up all hope. I'll stop even thinking about buying it. Oh, it's still too low. Gas prices went up today. Thank you for keeping them rising. I used to spend 1,200 yuan a month on fuel. I filled up today, and this tank should last me until the Lunar New Year. Thank you for saving me money. If you keep rising prices, I can probably stretch it until at least next May. Thank you. When fuel prices rise, other prices follow. Ordinary consumers ultimately pay the bill. This chain reaction is unavoidable. Here's some good news. The three state oil giants have released their first half earnings. Their combined net profit was apparently over 210 billion yuan. That works out to 1.19 billion yuan a day. Think about it. 1.19 billion every day. Some people may say they don't drive a truck, or even a car, and ride an electric bike instead. So rising fuel prices have nothing It has nothing to do with them. Let me do the math. The day before yesterday, I hauled a truckload of apples from Shanxi to Changsha. After unloading, they said the transport cost meant the apples had to go up by about 0.27 yuan per pound. That's with fuel at over 8 yuan a liter. Imagine it went up to 80 yuan a liter. The owner won't cover that cost, and neither will the truck driver. Someone has to pay in the end. I get about 8,000 yuan for this trip now and fuel has gone up by 0.3 yuan a liter. If fuel rose to 80 yuan a liter, I wouldn't take the job for less than 80,000 yuan. Spread that across the apples and the price rises by 3 yuan per jin, or about 2.72 yuan per pound. And it's not just apples, it's oranges and vegetables too. China's 38 million truck drivers work in road freight, which carries more than 70% of the country's freight volume. With diesel prices climbing and freight rates depressing, the industry is facing another wave of business failures. Ms. Lee, a truck driver in Sichuan, told a reporter, they only let you buy 52.8 gallons. You have to visit five stations to fill the tank. With fuel prices up, the freight rates don't make a trip worthwhile. There's no profit. There's plenty of work. The platforms have endless loads that lose you money. We just don't want to take them. Truck loan payments cost so much. It's such a miserable way to live. A long haul truck driver said, Our industry was already barely getting by. Once fuel prices rise, almost all the profit disappears. Those at the top make their calculations in international politics, but we drivers end up paying the cost. If prices keep rising like this, many drivers really won't be able to carry on. A person in Guangzhou posted footage of rows of idle trucks. One commenter said, The economy must be in terrible shape for all these trucks to be parked here. Once fuel prices rise, transport grinds into a halt. Oh. Fuel is over 8 yuan now, and natural gas is 8 yuan too. Look at these trucks. None can go out. Everyone is sitting at home, giving up. Let's see if you still rush to take cheap loads or buy cheap fuel from small suppliers. Trucks are sitting idle. There's no work out there. Fuel prices have gone up and the highways are empty. A lot of trucks go home and stop operating. Drivers quit. They can't keep going. They stop. Some truck drivers say many fleet owners are losing money, cannot pay wages, and have disbanded their fleets. Many independent drivers have also stopped operating. Some truck drivers say electric trucks last no more than five years on average. Electricity prices fluctuate and may also rise. Diesel trucks, by contrast, can run for well over 10 years and cost only one-third to one-half as much as electric trucks. Some suspect the diesel shortage is being deliberately created to force drivers to buy electric trucks. 谁不知道游车省心,但是现在92的游得就快了。 Everyone knows gas cars are less hassle. But now, 92 octane gas is almost 9 yuan a liter. I don't know how you keep going. Every press of the accelerator burns a few tenths of a yuan. You spend 1,000 or 2,000 yuan a month on gas. Even if you earn 10,000 yuan a month, driving a gas car every day still hurts. The economy is already far from promising. Plenty of people don't like electric cars, but finally switching because they simply can't afford to keep going. Mr. Chen said, with an electric vehicle, you struggle with loan payments for the first three years, then repair and battery costs for the next three. Electric vehicles really are expensive to repair, whether they're private cars or trucks. The way they're designed leaves buyers paying through the nose. They're outrageously expensive. Miss Wong, a used car dealer in Hubei, said rising fuel prices have boosted electric truck sales, but many fleet owners who switched have also gone out of business. Their batteries lack range and drain too quickly for long-haul trips. Repairs and parts are expensive, while freight rates keep falling. Some owners have fled after running up huge debts. Mr. Wong said bluntly, We're developing electric trucks for short and medium routes so we no longer depend on oil. But diesel and electric trucks drivers alike are being exploited. Neither makes money. Anyone who buys a new electric truck gets fleeced and loses a fortune. Maintenance and insurance are expensive. Mr Zhang, who runs a logistics company in Guangdong, said fuel normally accounts for more than 30% of transport costs. Fuel prices suddenly rose because of the situation in the Middle East. If this continues, some small logistics companies may struggle to survive. Companies in northeastern China have already started suspending operations. Profit margins on shipments from the northeast to northern and eastern China were already thin. Many companies can no longer cope. China is the world's largest oil importer and relies on imports for more than 70% of its oil needs. Some observers say the CCP authorities depend heavily on imported oil, but lack transparent, stable energy policy. When international tensions flare, the domestic economy often takes the first hit. For the CCP, this crisis is more like a boomerang. One China scholar noted that Beijing has long relied on energy deals with authoritarian regimes such as Iran. It appears to obtain cheap crude, but has never built a truly stable, reliable system for energy security. The scholar criticized the policy. Beijing's energy strategy is short-sighted and opportunistic. It ties the country's energy lifeline too closely to the volatile Middle East. This dependence is like drinking poison to quench thirst. It leaves China's transport, logistics, and even manufacturing sectors highly exposed to international shock. In the CCP's policy thinking, so-called energy security is treated more as a bargaining chip in geopolitical contests than as a fundamental safeguard for the economy and the people's livelihoods. Some analysts say this contradiction exposes structural problems in the CCP's energy policy. It spends vast sums maintaining its dependence on Middle Eastern energy supplies, yet lacks systems that can cushion international risks. When global oil prices become more volatile, domestic transport businesses and ordinary workers are often the first to bear the pressure.