Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 10
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Some 7 million liters of fuel are smuggled out of Iran daily, said the Head of the Energy Commission of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Hamidreza Salehi, Trend reports.
According to him, the main reason for the smuggling of fuel is the huge difference in the price of fuel both inside and outside the country.
Salehi added that it may become possible to keep fuel smuggling under check to a certain extent by giving fuel cards to citizens.
Noting that Iran's daily gasoline consumption is 100 million liters, Salehi said that, considering the size of the population and the number of cars per capita, the consumption of gasoline in Iran should be 60-65 million liters.
“Half of families in Iran do not own a car. The sale of gasoline at low prices deprives half of the population of energy subsidies,” he said.
This is because these subsidies only reach citizens who own cars, which is tantamount to the destruction of the country's resources, according to Salehi.
Salehi also said that Iran provides $45 billion of subsidies for oil, gas and electricity annually, and the country ranks first globally in this regard.
The price of 1 liter of gasoline in Iran is 10,000 rials ($0.23 at the official exchange rate and $0.08 at the black market rate).