The stores of LPG ran out last Friday at the Dominican Oil Refinery (REFIDOMSA) and diesel began to be rationed on Saturday. According to witnesses, only 20 tankers were allowed to enter the refinery, instead of the usual 60. Various organizations took advantage of the situation to make their complaints to reporters from Hoy. The petroleum transporters? union said that their drivers must wait for 12 to 14 hours in order to fill up with fuels. Juan Ignacio Espaillat, the head of the gasoline dealers? association, used the occasion to, once again, make public his group?s complaint about the temperature of the fuels and the losses his members suffer from the discrepancies between international norms and the practices of the local refinery ? with the blessings of the Ministry of Industry & Commerce. Espaillat reminded the reporters that higher temperatures mean higher volume, but as the fuel cools in the tanks at the gas station the volume becomes substantially less, thus producing losses for the retailers. The norm is that the fuels be handled at 30.8 degrees centigrade, but the ministry turns a blind eye to deliveries made at 32?C and even 35?C, according to the ANADEGAS spokesperson. Be that as it may, REFIDOMSA president Amaury Justo Duarte told Listin Diario reporters that there was no need to ration fuels because the supply was sufficient to cover the demand. The official asked that the general population not go out and buy fuels for speculation. In other news at the refinery, Rafael Maradiaga told reporters that the government payments for the propane subsidy had reached RD$2.9 billion over the last six months, in part due to an 11% increase in demand for the product. During all of 2003, the total amount paid for the propane subsidy was RD$750 million. Maradiaga, a vice-president of the refinery and an official of the Shell company, said that there was sufficient fuel to supply the nation?s needs. According to Maradiaga, the real price of a gallon of propane gas is about RD$60.00, but homemakers and other users only pay RD$25 per gallon. The government is paying RD$35 per gallon of propane, and the refinery, which supplies 72% of the propane used in the DR, is currently selling 14 million gallons a month.