TEHERAN - Iran will continue petrol rationing despite protests and riots throughout the country, Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said Friday.
‘This decision has been approved by the parliament and therefore the government is determined to implement it,’ the minister told Mehr news agency. As of Wednesday, Iran, one of the world’s largest oil producers, started rationing petrol nationwide and the oil ministry has allocated each private car 100 litres per month at 0.108 dollars per litre for normal and 0.151 dollars for super petrol. The quota for governmental cars has been put at 300 litres per month and for taxis at 800. ‘The plan will cause no problems for the people,’ the minister said. Although Iran is a leading OPEC member and the world’s fourth biggest oil producer with a daily oil production of 4.2 million barrels, the Islamic state still spends 5-8 billion dollars annually on petrol imports due to a lack of refineries and a preference for oil export. Within the new plan, petrol is only supplied through the so-called ‘smart card’ or petrol coupon, an initiative by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop lavish fuel consumption - 73 million litres daily - by over seven million cars nationwide. The rationing led on Tuesday night to a chaos in the capital Teheran where cars rushed to petrol stations to fill their tanks before the start of rationing. In protest against the decision riots broke out and several petrol stations - at least two of them pictured in local agencies - were set on fire. In the Friday prayer ceremony in Teheran, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati called on the people to remain calm. ‘The rationing was something which had to be done and will eventually be to the benefit of all people and also reduce air pollution,’ said the Ayatollah who is head of the senate-like Guardian Council and close to Ahmadinejad. ‘We cannot spend major parts of our oil revenues for importing petrol,’ Jannati added. Since rationing took effect on Wednesday, the capital Teheran faced a visible decrease of traffic jams and also the air was much cleaner in the last 48 hours, realising at least two of the main aims of the rationing plan. But critics say that the government must also add, as previously scheduled, additional quotas at higher rates for people who need their cars for their jobs and at the same time increase public transportation. The harsh protests confirmed the government’s fears that the move would dent Ahmadinejad’s popularity before parliamentary elections in March next year and even negatively affect his chances for re-election in 2009.
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