Fuel panic sweeps Kurdistan Region as coronavirus shuts Iran border
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Rumors of fuel shortages caused traffic chaos across the Kurdistan Region on Monday night as motorists queued for hours outside petrol stations.
Authorities insist fuel supplies have not been impacted by the closure of the Kurdistan Region’s border crossings with Iran – a measure taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Hawraz Yasin, a motorist queuing at a petrol station in eastern Erbil’s Bnaslawa district, told Rudaw English on Monday evening he was warned the border closure would cause a spike in fuel prices.
“I received a phone call from my cousin telling me I must rush to a petrol station as soon as possible because Iran’s border is closed and I have to refuel before the price goes up,” Yasin said.
“People say corona is coming, so it is better to be prepared.”
Abdulkhaliq Yaziden, who was also queuing, accused corrupt officials of trying to profit from the panic by hiking prices.
“We are now twice panicked – once by the fuel crisis and another by the corona. What should we do? Believe me, everyone is confused,” he added.
One attendant working at the Kirkuk Station in Bnaslawa said there was plenty of fuel to go around and couldn’t understand what had sparked the panic.
“It is very strange. I just don’t know why all these people have come out this late at night and everyone is fighting over fuel. We have enough petrol and there is no shortage,” the station attendant told Rudaw English.
Sulaimani saw similar scenes of chaos on Monday night. Sulaimani Central Municipality issued a statement insisting there are no shortages.
“This is a short-term issue and no one should be panicked. We have an adequate amount of fuel. Now that borders are closed with Iran, there are other solutions we can resort to. No one should be worried,” it said.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has also insisted there is no reason to panic buy fuel or expect future shortages.
“Here and there, it is rumored that there is a petrol and fuel crisis in the Kurdistan Region due the KRG deciding to reorganize traffic and trade exchange at the KRG-Iran border crossings in an effort to take self-protection measures from the coronavirus outbreak ,” KRG spokesperson Jotiar Adil said in a statement on Monday night.
“We are assuring the people of the Kurdistan Region that there has not been and will not be such crises.”
The government has laid out “a concrete plan to fight off this symptom and its implications,” he added.
Nabaz Abdulhamid, the mayor of Erbil, told Rudaw the region imports only a fraction of its fuel from Iran.
“Of three million liters of petrol that Erbil needs on a daily basis, we import only 300,000 liters from there,” Abdulhamid said.
“Erbil’s fuel is supplied by the Kurdistan Region and Iraq’s refineries. What we receive from Iran just covers 10 percent of the need,” he said.
Police have been asked to investigate petrol stations accused of artificially raising prices to cash in on the panic.
“Any petrol station found to have increased the fuel price will face the toughest punishment,” Abdulhamid added.
The coronavirus outbreak in neighboring Iran, and now in the Iraqi city of Najaf, has caused panic in the Kurdistan Region, causing the price of medical equipment and protective masks to skyrocket.
On Sunday, 18 pharmacies in Erbil were closed as part of a government crackdown on those found exploiting the panic and inflating prices.
The coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan on December 31 and has killed at least 2,700 people and infecting more than 80,000 worldwide.
There have been at least 95 confirmed cases of the virus and 15 deaths in Iran, according to Ministry of Health officials. Iran has experienced more coronavirus deaths than any other country outside of China.
The first case of the virus in Iraq was confirmed on Monday when an Iranian student in the Shiite holy city of Najaf tested positive.
A further four people tested positive for the virus in Kirkuk on Tuesday.
Iraqis currently in Iran must undergo a 14-day monitoring period after crossing the border before they are allowed to return home, and will also be checked at their homes by medical teams, according to an order issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Health and the Environment.
Furthermore, Iraqis are not permitted to visit Iran unless they are part of a diplomatic delegation, and the federal government has suspended all Iraqi Airlines flights serving Najaf and Baghdad routes to Iran until further notice.
Updated 4:36pm