Motorists queued for hours to fill up at gasoline stations throughout the capital Friday as officials blamed a continuing gas shortage on debt problems at the Moscow Refinery.


Alexander Korsak, deputy head of transport and communications, said that oil producers' demands for advance payment had forced the Moscow Refinery to interrupt supplies to the city's pumps. "The shortage has a temporary character," Korsak said. "We managed to provide city transport with gas, but private drivers suffer, of course."


Gas shortages tend to raise fears of price hikes among Moscow drivers, many of whom believe that the refinery reaps extra profits by actually holding back supplies until prices have been raised at city-run gas stations.


Korsak, however, denied that any price hike was in the works.


Last month, long lines at gas stations preceded a city-ordered price hike of about 40 percent. A liter of 92-octane gasoline in Moscow now officially costs 400 rubles (13 cents), significantly lower than in surrounding towns, where official prices for 92-octane fuel are closer to 600 rubles a liter.


Privately run gas stations in Moscow were selling high-octane fuel for between 800 and 1,500 rubles a liter Friday.


"It's a nightmare," said Alexander Poltavtsev, who was waiting in a line 70 cars deep at a private gas station on Begovaya Street in northern Moscow. "It hinders my business, first of all."


Korsak said that Moscow's relatively low gasoline prices were attracting many motorists from nearby regions, aggravating the effects of the shortage.


"The situation is tense, but we are in control," he said. "I think in three days it will improve."