Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 25
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Iran plans to raise CNG prices in the next Iranian calendar year (to start March 21), Iranian Mehr News Agency reported on January 25.
MP Seyyed Mehdi Mousavinejad has confirmed the price rise.
Mehr also reported two scenarios prices have been presented for the CNG price for the next year. In the first scenario, the CNG price will reach 5,000 rials, while in the second scenario the price will rise to 7,000 rials.
The Head of the National Transport and Fuel Consumption Management Committee, Seyyed Mojtaba Shirifi, said on January 21 that the committee has presented the government with three scenarios for the fuel prices for the next Iranian calendar year, the Iranian Mehr News Agency reported.
"In the first scenario the gasoline price remains the same but the quotas will be cut," he said, adding that in the second and third scenario the gasoline prices would reach 11,000 and 18,000 rials per liter, respectively.
"The government will make decisions about the prices," Sharifi said.
Semi-subsidized gasoline is currently sold at 4,000 rials (33 cents), while the free market gasoline price is 7,000 rials.
Iranians with cars currently receive a monthly allowance of 60 liters with the semi-subsidies price and have to pay 7,000 rials per liter for larger volumes.
Iranian MP Amir-Abbas Soltani said on January 22 that the gasoline price would be increased by maximum 30 percent, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported.
"Iran's Parliament (Majlis) Energy Commission has approved the maximum figure of 30 percent," Soltani said, adding that he is sure the majority of the MPs will approve the figure.
Soltani, a member of the energy commission, went on to note that increasing the price of gasoline up to 18,000 rials per liter will cause high inflation.
Iranian MP Jalil Jafari also said on January 21 that increasing the price of gasoline up to 18,000 rials per liter may cause high inflation, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on January 21.
Jafari, a member of Iran's Parliament (Majlis) Energy Commission went on to note that the best price of gasoline is 7,000 rials per liter for semi-subsidised gasoline, and 10,000 rials per liter for free market gasoline.
"Increasing the price of gasoline is inevitable, but the rising process should be implemented gradually in order to prevent imposing sudden economic pressure on the citizens," Jafari added.
According to the MP, Iranian government was supposed to increase energy carriers' prices by 38 per cent in the current Iranian calendar year (which started on March 20, 2013) but refused to do so in order to prevent further inflation.
Iran's gasoline consumption has faced a 7.6-per cent increase compared to previous year, the managing director of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), Mostafa Kashkouli , said on January 10, the Iranian ISNA News Agency reported.
"Iran's average gasoline consumption currently stands at 68 million liters per day," he said.
"We are currently storing enough gasoline to meet the country's demands in the New Year holidays and the next summer," Kashkouli explained.
Over 6.534 billion liters of gasoline was consumed in Iran during the summer this year.
The figure is 500 million liters more than the same period of time previous year, the IRNA News Agency reported.
Iran's average gasoline consumption stood at 68.5 and 68.2 million liters per day in the first and second months of summer, respectively.
The figure reached 74 million liters in the third month of summer.
Iran's average gasoline consumption stood at around 71.6 million liters per day in the previous Iranian calendar year, the ISNA News Agency reported.
It is while according to the Deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeyqami Iran's average gasoline consumption stands at around 63.5 million liters per day.