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Iranian motorists are now consuming 75.5 million liters a day which is 15.9 percent lower than the figures from corresponding period in the last year. displaying that the gas price hike scheme implemented last month is fruiting good results.
A senior Oil Ministry official Amir Vakilzadeh said that the total gas pumped into cars across the country had decreased to 75.5 million liters a day on average in the month ending December 21. 2019.
Vakilzadeh added that the figure shows a reduction of 15.9 percent compared to the same period in 2018.
The official. who serves as the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC). said daily gas consumption could have reached nearly 100 million liters a day in the beginning of the next Iranian calendar year in March if price hikes had not been implemented in November.
Vakilzadeh said consumption had grown by 6.1 percent year-on-year before the fuel price hikes were announced on November 15 to reach an average of 94.4 million liters a day.
Experts say rationing fuel in Iran would prevent tens of millions of liters of gas being wasted each day in a country which still grapples with the economic impacts of a series of American sanctions.
Last month. Iran increased the price of gas overnight while it imposed a cap on the use of the fuel with regular price of 15.000 rials ($0.12) per liter.
The government said right after announcing the new prices for gasoline that all the income generated from the new scheme. estimated around $2.7 billion. would be dedicated to plans for balancing the economic situation in Iran.
Iran. once a major importer of gas. produces around 110 million liters of the fuel each day. with bulk of the output serving a surging domestic consumption.
Reports in the media have suggested that gas is being increasingly smuggled outside of Iran. given the exorbitantly low price of the fuel in the country.
Rationing of gas come against various studies suggesting that domestic consumption of the fuel should not exceed 70 million liters each day.
Those findings mean that almost 40 million liters of Iran’s gas output is either smuggled or wasted in substandard vehicles.
That comes as Iran continues to suffer from a series of American sanctions that have specifically targeted its oil and gas industry since they were enacted in November last year.
That bans have deprived Iran of a bulk of revenues generated from direct sale of crude while prompting the government to engage in export of other energy products. including gas. to compensate the loss.
A day after the new program was implemented. Iranian Vice-President and Head of the Management and Planning Organization (MPO) Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said that a total sum of $2.5 to $2.4 billion is estimated to be earned from the gas price hike in the country. adding that the whole amount is planned to be distributed among 18 million families of lower economic status.
