Iran Cuts Consumer Gasoline Quota As Possible Move To Raise Prices

Iran has reduced 100 liters of monthly gasoline quota in personal fuel cards from 250 liters to 150 liters, a deputy oil minister has announced. 

On the sidelines of a ceremony for a national project to export liquefied gas via sea on Tuesday, the head of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), Jalil Salari, said that the quota of 250 liters was "a very high number" considering that fact that most Iranians do not consume that much petrol per month. 

All Iranians who own a car have a 60-liter quota of gasoline at the heavily subsidized rate of about five US cents a liter, but were also allowed to buy 250 liters more at about 10 cents, which is again heavily subsidized, at about 37 cents a US gallon. 

According to Jalili the new quota system will be implemented throughout the country soon. 

Some people in social media have described the move as a prelude by the administration of Ebrahim Raisi to increase the price of gasoline, despite repeated announcements by the government that the price of gasoline would not increase in the current Iranian year, which started on March 21. Such a plan had been earlier piloted in Sistan and Baluchistan province, leading to a whopping rise of gasoline prices to about 150,000 rials – or about 50 cent a liter – in the black market.