PHNOM PENH, March 14, 2026 – Cambodia’s Commerce Ministry said on Saturday that the number of fuel stations and depots that remained closed or had temporarily suspended operations had fallen to just over 400 from more than 2,000 earlier in the week, signaling that a major disruption in retail fuel supply had eased.
In a notice issued on March 14, the ministry said the remaining closures were due to delays in the arrival of new fuel stocks. It said joint inspections and compliance assessments carried out with provincial authorities, commerce officials and consumer-protection regulators had helped most previously shuttered facilities resume operations by March 13.
The updated figure marks a sharp improvement from earlier reports that roughly one-third of Cambodia’s fuel retail network had halted sales or suspended operations amid supply stress and a surge in prices.
The ministry said joint working groups from the provincial departments of mines and energy, provincial commerce departments, the Consumer Protection, Competition and Fraud Repression Directorate-General, known as CCF, and local authorities had conducted inspections to help ensure transparency and adequate fuel supply for consumers.
It also urged fuel station and depot operators to report difficulties in obtaining supplies to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Commerce Ministry or provincial departments so authorities could help resolve bottlenecks.
For households, communities and farms needing fuel for production and transport, the ministry called for shortages and urgent needs to be reported promptly to local authorities, particularly commune agricultural officers, so supplies could be coordinated according to actual demand.
The government also appealed to the public to conserve fuel and use it only for essential daily activities.
The ministry’s statement establishes that the scale of closures has narrowed sharply, but it does not independently prove that delayed stock arrivals were the sole cause of the disruption. Earlier official and media reporting indicated authorities were also investigating possible hoarding and compliance violations during a period of rising fuel prices.
That leaves the immediate picture clearer on the improvement in operations, but less certain on the full cause of the earlier wave of shutdowns.
Cambodia depends entirely on imported fuel, making domestic supply vulnerable to external price shocks and shipping disruptions.
