Adnoc's smart card to beat illegal fuel trade

Smart cards are to be introduced by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) to regulate the sale of diesel in a bid to crack down on the illegal trade in the fuel.

Smugglers and bogus transport companies are making massive profits by buying subsidised fuel and selling it at higher prices elsewhere.

Diesel costs Dh8.6 per gallon at Adnoc petrol stations in Abu Dhabi and the Northern Emirates and Dh6 per gallon in Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia compared with Dh19.25 in Dubai.

The cards will enable Adnoc to control diesel sales to transport companies and their employees.

"Within two weeks, we are going to introduce a new card system, which will have details of the transport company, vehicle number and the type of vehicle and whether the fuel used is diesel or petrol," said a spokesman.

"At present many transport companies or their staff cheat Adnoc. Some companies have increased the size of their vehicles' diesel tanks so they can purchase more fuel at Dh8.6 subsidised rate and resell it for a huge profit. We are aware of this type of cheating and black market deals in diesel and such cases are investigated by the police."

The smart cards will be similar to Al Rahal cards, which Adnoc customers use to pay for fuel and other items.

An official source at Adnoc Distribution, which operates more than 150 outlets across the UAE, told Emirates Business that 60 outlets in the Northern Emirates had introduced a rationing system depending on vehicle size.

"Vehicles below three tonnes get diesel worth only Dh150 per day," he said. "The quota for vehicles less than five tonnes is Dh300 and all vehicles above five tonnes will get diesel worth Dh400 – nearly 47 gallons. This system has been introduced to control long queues of heavy vehicles."

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