To temporarily redress the growing imbalance between gasoline and diesel supply and demand, the government has started to import fuels, spokesman for the Majlis Energy Commission said.
"Although the gap is not considerable yet, the government has predicted the deficit to rise incessantly, for which it has allocated close to $1 billion in the fiscal 2023-24 budget bill to buy diesel and gasoline from international markets,” Mostafa Nakhaei also said in an interview with the Persian newspaper Shargh, Ensafnews.com reported.
The disparity between supply and demand is rising rapidly and despite the National Iranian Oil Company’s reluctance to import fuels, it has to meet the mounting domestic demand, he added.
Iran’s dependence on the costly import of gasoline ended in 2018, but Nakhaei confirmed that imports have resumed and he expects fuel supplies to rise this year.
The average international price of gasoline and diesel is around $1.5 per liter.
“Importing gasoline to plug fuel shortage is a short-term solution and other effective measures like sending dilapidated vehicles to the junkyard must be given an immediate priority,” he said.
According to the lawmaker, rules should be ratified to facilitate the import of hybrid cars whose consumption is less than that of domestically-manufactured gas guzzlers.
The Majlis Research Center had earlier announced that the number of clunkers that have outlived their usefulness has surpassed 10 million.
As vehicles become outdated, their fuel consumption rises and getting rid of each rundown vehicle can reduce fuel consumption by 2,000 liters annually.