Venezuelans Are Gathering Firewood to Cook Meals Amid Propane Crisis

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuelans grappling with desperate propane shortages are resorting to burning tree branches and bits of furniture in their kitchen stoves, squeezing a nation already stretched by rampant inflation. 

There’s no government timeline for restoring propane sales three weeks after a blast at a processing plant crippled supplies of the fuel that most Venezuelans use for cooking.

The shortages have grown so acute that residents of Caracas and other areas are resorting to charcoal or electric grills to prepare meals. Local governments are rationing propane, and social media sites are rife with images of days-long queues of people hoping to refill canisters. 

In the Petare section of Caracas, a sprawling and impoverished neighborhood, residents boiled pots of water over firewood to cook , a traditional holiday meal of beef, pork and chicken wrapped in banana leaves. In some cases, they added plastic-foam packaging material and other debris to stoke the fire.

Even for those not forced to improvise cooking fuel, the fumes from neighbors can be annoying and dangerous. Residential air pollution from burning fuels such as wood kills more than 3 million people annually worldwide, and the burden falls disproportionately on women and children, according to the World Health Organization.  

“I’m building a small stove with bricks myself to cook with coal,” said Elena Guzman, who lives in Palo Negro in Aragua state, 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the capital city Caracas. “I lent my propane canister to my mother, and she used it all already.”  

The shortages come four years after Venezuela’s military temporarily took control of propane distribution and rationed deliveries after a processing plant caught fire and crippled supplies of the fuel. 

The recent problems began Nov. 11 after an explosion at a natural gas complex in Monagas state. The facility separates gas byproducts from crude oil, then ships them to a larger complex where propane gets processed and before it’s sent to distribution centers. While workers have managed to restore natural-gas production at the plant, propane output remains hobbled. 

As of Nov, 30, Venezuelan propane output was still down about 70% from pre-blast levels, according to data seen by Bloomberg. The nation’s Information Ministry and state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, both declined to comment. The use of firewood and other alternatives to propane is more prevalent in areas outside of Caracas where power supplies are more fragile.

“I was told by local distributors to ration what I have because they were told PDVSA is rationing and they don’t know when the gas truck is coming,” said Juana Rodríguez, who lives in La Guaira, near Caracas. He’s been out of fuel for more than two weeks. 

The government blamed the explosion on “terrorists attacks” by “extremists” targeting “the heart of the country’s natural gas system.” At least 11 people were arrested, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said a week after the disaster.

Now, states including Anzoátegui, Táchira, Barinas and Nueva Esparta authorities are rationing supplies and restricting sales. The difficulty in finding fuel is a hardship that adds to a 16.6% increase in across-the-board consumer prices in the first 10 months of this year.

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