Al Jazeera Net - Private
Iran ranks as the second-cheapest country after Venezuela in the price of fuel, but this blessing turned into a curse because of the growing phenomenon of fuel smuggling from border areas to neighboring countries.
Most of the smuggled fuel goes to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq and some Gulf states, and there are no exact figures for the amount of fuel smuggled, amid conflicting statements among officials.
One of the main reasons for the smuggling, according to experts - the deterioration of the local currency, the high prices of fuel in neighboring countries, high commodity prices, unemployment and uneven development of the regions of the country.
The fuel is smuggled by pumping it into pipes up to 20 kilometers sometimes, and also through cars, trucks, buses, and even ships and boats.
About 80 million Iranians consume 91 million liters of gasoline per day, at 1.12 liters per citizen, more than six times the global average.
Turkey is equal in terms of the number of cars and population, but the Turkish citizen consumes only 0.1 liters of gasoline per day, Fars news agency reported.
The cost of 11 liters of gasoline or 37 liters of diesel is not a dollar in Iran, after the dollar's exchange rate rose to 110,000 Iranian riyals this month.
In a survey conducted last month by Iran's Tasnim News Agency for gasoline prices in Iran and neighboring countries, gasoline prices in Turkey were 16 times higher than in Iran, followed by Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UAE 10 times, Iraq nine times, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia eight times, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan Six times.
According to the official IRNA news agency last month, the rate of diesel use in Iran was about 69 million liters per day between March and May this year, but the rate did not include diesel used for power reactors.
| Smart cards to supply oil in Iran (Tasnim Agency) |
As Iran's economic crisis worsens and so does commodity prices, the citizen - in comparison with gasoline prices - pays twice the price of gasoline to buy water. The petrol is now sold at 10,000 riyals per liter and, in return, gets a liter of pure drinking water of the same amount.
In a statement to the official Mehr news agency last month, Abdullah Hindii, deputy head of the General Headquarters to fight the smuggling of goods and currencies, said that 10 to 13 million liters of fuel are smuggled daily.
For his part, said a member of the Economic Committee in the parliament, Mohamed Ahmadinejad that 22 million liters are smuggled daily, while a member of the Union of Oil and Gas Exporters Hassan Khusraw Jerdy smuggled quantities up to 20 million liters per day.
Some believe that all these figures are not true, and that it is just a trick from the authorities to raise fuel prices, legalize and raise subsidies.
The state-run ISNA news agency reported last month that the government was paying about $ 35 million a day to subsidize the price of gasoline and spent $ 5.5 billion in the first six months of the year to support the price of gasoline.
Between 2007 and 2015, the government imposed the use of smart cards for each car or motorcycle to determine the appropriate quantities for each individual, and reduce smuggling, but canceled this decision after the unification of prices, but it will return to impose the use of cards again.
According to the House of Representatives news agency, fuel smuggling is equivalent to the development budget for a full year in Iran, prompting some to raise fuel prices and impose the appropriate quota or quantity and the use of smart cards and micro-control and control of unemployment and sustainable development in the regions.