Fuel Scarcity Hits Medan, Residents Queue for Hours at Petrol Stations

Fuel is reported to be scarce at a number of petrol stations (SPBU) in Medan, North Sumatra. As a result, residents have had to queue from late afternoon into the night to obtain fuel.

According to detikSumut on Wednesday (15 July 2026), on Tuesday evening (14 July) several petrol stations in Medan ran out of stock of Pertalite and Pertamax. The shortage was observed at, among others, the SPBU on Jamin Ginting Road at Pajak Sore, Simpang Pos, and Lau Chih, in Medan Tuntungan sub-district.

One motorist, Leo Sembiring, said he had visited four petrol stations, all of which had run out of the subsidised Pertalite fuel. He eventually decided to head to the Ngumbang Surbakti petrol station.

“I’ve been to four stations — Lau Chih, Al-Azhar, Johor, and Lapangan Tembak — and only got fuel at Ngumbang Surbakti. My tank was almost empty,” Leo said at the scene.

Leo recounted that he had been queuing since 6.30pm and by 10.30pm he was still in the queue. He said he had no choice but to endure it because he had to work the following day.

Regarding the matter, North Sumatra Governor Bobby Nasution said the long queues had been occurring over the past two days. He said the problem was caused by distribution issues following the mass dismissal of fuel truck drivers.

“We have coordinated with Pertamina and the military and police. The military and police are preparing drivers,” Bobby said on Tuesday (14 July).

Bobby urged that this internal problem should not be allowed to disrupt people’s activities and daily lives. Therefore, the regional government together with the authorities would help resolve the distribution problem.

“The military and police are conducting security checks so they can temporarily replace the drivers whose recruitment has not yet been completed today. So from tonight, the military and police already have personnel ready on standby for control. Pertamina is coordinating on how many are needed — the government is ready to cover it temporarily,” Bobby said.