Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran started exporting diesel to the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Northern Iraq, Fereydoun Yasami, an official with the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), said.
The first consignment including 290,000 liters of diesel was dispatched to the northern Iraq on May 25, Yasami said, the oil ministry's SHANA news agency reported.
The administration sells diesel to the Iraqi Kurdish region at the price of 26 cents per liter, he said, adding the price should be increased considering the market situation.
Reportedly, about eight million liters of diesel was smuggled from Iran to neighboring countries on a daily basis during the last fiscal year (ended March 20).
It is estimated that $1 billion worth of diesel was smuggled abroad during the 12-month period), Ghasem Khorshidi, senior official with the Headquarters for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Exchange said in mid-May.
He said that retail diesel markets are established in border regions with Afghanistan and Pakistan, to reduce fuel smuggling from Iran, adding the Iranian administration also plans to launch gasoline and diesel retail sale centers in Kurdistan province bordering with Iraq.
The administration sells diesel to Iranian frontiersmen at the price of 26 cents per liter and they export the fuel to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Khorshidi explained.
It should be noted that each liter of diesel is sold at 10 cents for Iranian customers.
Iran eyes to export 15 million cubic meters of diesel per day during the current fiscal year, Nasser Sajjadi, managing-director of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, said.
He added that the country's daily diesel export stood at 9.2 million liters from March 20 to April 24.