A Chinese truck driver waits in line to buy diesel fuel with other drivers at a gas station in east China's Jiangsu province. Diesel shortages are disrupting industry in China.

BEIJING Aggravated Chinese truck drivers parked for hours to buy rationed diesel Monday as shortages blamed on a government conservation campaign and possible hoarding by state oil companies disrupted industry and trade.

Supplies ran low after thousands of factories bought diesel generators to cope with power cuts imposed by authorities to meet energy-saving goals. That boosted already strong fuel demand amid rapid economic growth and complaints that major suppliers are withholding diesel to pressure Beijing to raise government-set retail prices.

In the southwestern city of Chongqing, truck driver Peng Yun was just back from what should have been a three-day trip to neighboring Yunnan province. He said it stretched to five days after he had to stop six times for a partial tank of fuel.

“In one place the filling station ran out, so I had to wait overnight until they had diesel again the next day,” said Peng, 24. “Now I dare not drive that far because I can’t get diesel.”

The shortages are symptomatic of the costly side effects of the communist government’s crude tools for regulating a complex, fast-changing economy.

Local authorities imposed rolling blackouts on factories in August after Beijing called for efforts to curb surging energy demand, pollution and emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases. That came after a campaign to make China’s energy-guzzling economy more efficient suffered setbacks early this year due to due to a stimulus-fueled boom in steel, cement and other heavy industry.

Diesel supplies already were tighter than usual after refineries shut down in August and September for maintenance and demand from farmers and fishermen rose, said Tom Reed, London-based Asia energy editor at Argus Media, an energy news agency.

“It’s kind of a perfect storm” that caused “a significant squeeze on the wholesale market,” Reed said.

Some Chinese media and industry analysts blamed the shortages on China’s major state-owned oil companies, PetroChina and Sinopec. They said the companies are withholding supplies while they wait for Beijing to boost retail prices.