Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 9
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran has resumed exporting diesel to the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Northern Iraq, Mohammad Sadeghi, an official with the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), said.
The diesel export resumed recently after a 3-month halt, Sadeghi said, Mehr news agency reported Aug. 9.
Iran currently exports one million liters of diesel per day to Northern Iraq via Tamarchin border checkpoint, he added.
Diesel loading capacity for export to the KRG has increased by 30 percent, he said.
First consignment of 290,000 liters of diesel was dispatched to Northern Iraq on May 25.
Iran sells diesel to the Iraqi Kurdish region at the price of 26 cents per liter.
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 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.