The four provinces of the Kurdistan Region will get a total of 1.08 million liters of petrol per day, with Erbil and Sulaimani provinces receiving 360,000 liters, Duhok 216,000 liters, and Halabja 144,000 liters, according to an Iraqi Ministry of Oil document published by Halabja’s mayor on Twitter.
“We hope this effort becomes a reason for the decrease of oil prices and better quality,” said the mayor, Nukhsha Nasih. In a phone call with Rudaw English, she said they are waiting for prices to be set before they begin distribution.
Erbil made an agreement with Iraq’s Minister of Oil Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar for Baghdad to send one million liters of petrol daily from the August 23, the Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Natural Resources Kamal Atroshi said in an interview with Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman earlier this month.
“We agreed that the price will be 650 dinars per liter, of really good quality. Kurdistan Region’s need for fuel is around 4.5 to 5 million liters per day,” said Atroshi.
Fuel prices increased in the Kurdistan Region earlier this year, prompting protests. Multiple reasons are behind the hike, including increased price of crude oil, devaluation of the dinar, taxes, and fuel monopolies.
Atroshi said that from now on gasoline will be “distributed to petrol stations under our ministry’s supervision so that there is no corruption in it, and all stations get the amount based on the size of their tanks in a fair way without any difference.”
The price hikes drove drivers to fuel up in Iraqi provinces where prices are more stable. “A lot of people come to Nineveh to buy fuel, which costs 450 dinars. Cars line up for kilometers in front of many petrol stations in Mosul and some other areas in Nineveh province,” a member of the Iraqi parliament told Rudaw in June. Prices in Nineveh were as much as half what was seen in the Kurdistan Region.
Fuel prices have also affected the generation of electricity and the cost of bread.
The Kurdistan Region has the capacity to generate 6,902 megawatts of power, but it only manages between 3,400 and 3,500 megawatts "due to fuel shortages and high costs," the ministry said in a July report.
Last week bread prices were higher in some bakeries in Sulaimani city, caused by hikes in costs for fuel and imported flour.
After protests, the mayor’s office ordered bakers to return to the original, lower price and the province’s directorate of trade said it was working to remove customs fees in order to lower flour prices.
