Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.2
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
More than 15 billion liters of gasoline and 22 billion liters of diesel fuel were consumed in Iran in the first seven months of the current year despite price rise within the subsidy reform plan.
Statistics of the National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Company shows that the consumption of gasoline and diesel fuel has increased, so that over 46 billion liters of fuel has been consumed in the first seven months of the year, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on November 2.
Gasoline consumption has risen by 400 million liters compared to the same period of the past year.
The current Iranian calendar year began on March 21.
This is while, Alireza Bayat, an official with Iran's Headquarters against Contraband and Currency Trafficking, said on November 1 that despite the fact that over 1.3 million vehicles have been manufactured between September 22, 2013 and September 22, 2014, gasoline consumption has decreased in the country, Iran's IRNA news agency reported.
Gasoline consumption in Iran has been declining despite a car production rise over the past year.
He added that in the first six months of Iranian year 1392 (March 2013-September 2013), gasoline consumption rose by 7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
Iran's oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has proposed $12 billion worth of projects to the National Economy Council to reduce fuel consumption.
Zanganeh has proposed eight plans to be approved by the National Economy Council, aiming to reduce the consumption of gasoline, diesel fuel, and natural gas, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on September 30.
The national budget bill has allowed the Oil Ministry to implement $100 billion of projects to reduce the fuel consumption.
The projects include supplying gas to villages, renovating the public transportation fleet, and electrification of diesel engines.
On Sept. 15, Shahrokh Khosravani, deputy director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) said that the Islamic Republic has decreased gasoline imports to 4.7 million liters per day from the forecasted figure of 10 million liters, thanks to suitable storage and consumption management.