Long lines for petrol are usually scarce in Venezuela's capital city of Caracas, but they were evident on Wednesday as the country's main domestic producer struggled with distribution.

Backlogs in meeting demand and payment delays to suppliers have meant that some shippers take weeks to deliver oil for state oil company, PDVSA.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Hyperinflation bites into economy Hyperinflation has made doing business in Venezuela untenable for many domestic and foreign firms. With the currency dropping, the government has made it difficult to convert bolivars into US dollars.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Food shortages Food shortages have become pervasive, spurred on by hyperinflation. Empty store shelves have become all too common across Venezuela.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Queuing up to buy food Food shortages mean that people have to wait in line to buy essential food items at select locations. Here people line up outside a supermarket in the poor neighborhood of Lidice, in Caracas.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Gathering signatures Opposition leaders launched a petition drive to collect signatures for a recall referendum. They needed 200,000 signatures, or 1 percent of the electorate, but they got 1.8 million voters to sign.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Green light for petition Opposition leader Henrique Capriles shows journalists that the National Election Council has given permission for the referendum to go ahead. But President Nicolas Maduro's government is trying to delay the vote.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Pushing for referendum Protesters have taken to the streets, demanding that the referendum go forward.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Students protest Students have also taken to the streets to demonstrate. They are protesting both the overall economic stagnation and also the government's efforts to delay the referendum.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Severe drought A devastating drought has exacerbated Venezuela's problems. What was once a vast reservoir, held back by a hydroelectric dam, is now little more than a series of mud puddles.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Drought wreaks havoc The country depends on the Guri Dam - one of the world's largest - for a significant portion of its electricity. While the reservoir is turning to desert, citizens endure daily black outs, and government offices open just two days a week to save electricity.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Health care suffers Oliver Sanchez, 8, holds a sign that reads "I want to heal, peace, health" during a protest against the shortage of medicines in Caracas. Oliver has Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but the medicine he needs is no longer available.

Scarcity, riots and drought: Venezuela is in trouble Maduro under fire Venezuela's economic dip is largely the result of oil prices that have plunged more than 50 percent in the past two years. But a severe drought is crimping electricity supplies, and focusing people's ire on Maduro. Author: Bruce Konviser



"I can't find 95 octane gasoline anywhere," Jose Paredes, in Caracas' wealthy Altamira district, told the Reuters news agency. "We're an oil-producing country! It's pathetic."

PDVSA head Ysmel Serrano tweeted that problems with the internal shipping of products - which led to shortages in four of the country's 23 states - would be solved soon.

"We're strengthening deliveries to the center of the country to stabilize gasoline supplies," Ysmel Serrano tweeted.

In the industrial city of Puerto Ordaz, National Guard soldiers have been trying to maintain order at functioning service stations.

Read: Venezuela to introduce bigger bills amid soaring inflation

Keep calm and don't panic!

PDVSA said it would redouble the distribution to stabilize supplies, urging Venezuelans to remain calm and not to panic over false rumors that the country was in chaos.

However, union leader Ivan Freites - a critic of the state oil firm - said refineries only had oil inventories for around two days compared with a standard of 15.

Motorcyclists have also been struggling to find supplies in some parts of the country

About a dozen tankers were reported to be waiting in PDVSA ports around Venezuela, set to discharge a variety of refined petroleum products.

The Socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro last year raised prices in Venezuela for the first time in some 20 years. It remains officially the cheapest in the world, despite the shortages.

The country's economy has been sorely tested by a fall in the price of oil, which accounts for some 95 percent of export revenues. According to estimates, the country has the greatest amount of crude oil reserves, outstripping even Saudi Arabia.

In their third year of a deep economic recession, Veneuzelans have become accustomed to shortages of food, medicines and basic household goods such as toilet paper.

rc/jr (EFE Reuters)