Iran To Begin Rationing Petrol Within 3 Months, page 1

Iran, the World's 4th largest supplier of Oil, will begin rationing domestic petrol supplies. The rationing will be in response to Iran's halting of petrol imports. Iran currently can only supply 57% of the petrol it consumes by itself. It also heavily subsidizes petrol at the pump, with a liter of petrol costing US9c/UK5p (US34c gallon). Iran's oil minister said rationing is preferable to higher petrol prices.

news.bbc.co.uk
Iran is to stop importing petrol from September and instead start rationing the fuel, its oil minister has said.

The move comes as Tehran seeks to reduce the billions of dollars it spends each year on petrol imports due to a shortage of domestic refineries.

While Iran is the world's fourth largest oil producer, it currently can only produce 57% of the country's daily petrol consumption.

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This move is generally considered as a way Iran can save its precious reserves of foreign currency. Could this point to Iran's imminent decision on the nuclear incentives as being a refusal and hence sanctions? Maybe.

However, it could be Iran's response to spiraling oil prices. If it halts oil imports it can stave off the inflationary effects caused by high prices by increasing the supply of domestic petrol.

Either way it does not bode well for the climate of World oil prices when the World's 4th largest producer of Oil radically alters its domestic oil policies.

[edit on 23/6/2006 by Mirthful Me]