ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - In the city of Baneh, in Sanandaj province in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat), drivers face mounting gasoline shortages marked by long station queues and high black-market prices.
Local residents report waiting up to six hours at fuel pumps.
"There is gasoline in the pumps, but you have to join the queue - for example, it is a kilometer long," Hidayat, a local tea vendor, told Rudaw on Wednesday. "A person goes around six or seven in the evening - they often open after three - and gets it after five or six hours," he said.
Commercial drivers say the official quota is insufficient for daily operations.
"We have a 30-liter allocation, but it is not enough. You have to wait two to three hours to get it," said Mohammed Rahmani, a local taxi driver.
The supply deficit has driven an informal street trade, where vendors sell gasoline along main roads at up to ten times the regulated rate.
"They sell it in 5, 10, or 20-liter jugs," Rahmani said. "They often sell 20 liters for 1,200,000 tomans [$6]. That is not [a reasonable price] for taxis."
Iran’s domestic refineries produce between 114 million and 130 million liters of gasoline daily against a national consumption rate of 135 million to 137 million liters. Tehran previously addressed this shortfall through imports, but US blockades on southern ports have restricted incoming fuel shipments.
The Iranian government currently sells gasoline at heavily subsidized rates, providing a monthly quota of 160 liters divided into 60 liters at 1,500 tomans ($0.0075) per liter and 100 liters at 3,000 tomans ($0.015) per liter.
Consumption beyond 160 liters incurs costs of 5,000 tomans ($0.025) per liter.
Refining a single liter costs the state roughly 130,000 tomans ($0.65). To reduce spending, the government is reviewing a proposal to price open-market, unallocated fuel at 87,200 tomans ($0.46) per liter.
