Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 9
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Secretary of the Committee for Planning, Coordination, and Observation of Goods and Currency Smuggling Campaign Organization of Hormozgan Province, Azizollah Konari said collecting 6,500 illegal heavy vehicles fuel cards blocked the way to smuggling a great amount of fuel.
He noted that the collected cards belonged to trucks that were roaming freely across the province.
Since the fuel ration for each truck is 150 liters per day, collecting the cards prevented the smuggling of 975 thousand liters of oil products per day, SHANA news agency reported March 9.
Following the collection of the cards, 29.25 million liters of fuel were saved monthly, which amounts to 321.75 million liters in the past 11 months, the official pointed out.
He also stated that in the Iranian month of Dey (Jan. 21 - Feb. 19), the most comprehensive operations were held to tackle fuel smuggling, where 35 tankers carrying 1.8 million liters of smuggled fuel were detained.
On Jan. 25, the energy committee of the Iranian parliament approved gas oil to be delivered to trucks based on their bills of lading.
According to the plan, gas oil will be delivered to trucks based on their quotas at a subsidized price and the administration will be allowed to increase gas oil price in the free market.
Currently, some 7 million liters of gas oil are smuggled via Iran per day. If the plan is finalized, it could prevent an annual loss of $1 billion.
In May 2013, Alireza Zeighami, the former Iranian deputy oil minister for refining and distribution, said a lucrative cross-border business of smuggling fuel and goods via Iran has emerged, bolstered by a sharp drop in the value of the Iranian currency.
Fuel, especially diesel, is being illegally transferred out of the country through cities bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey, Zeighami said.
Edited by CN