Fuel smuggling crisis rising in Iran
Iran which was banned from importing gasoline by the U.S. in 2009 has not solved its fuel smuggling problem yet. Before 2009 Iran relied on 40 per cent of its 72-million litres of gasoline consumption on imports, while the smuggled fuel amount from the country to abroad was about 10 million litres per day, including four million litres of gasoline and six million litres of gas-oil. After the implementation of raising fuel prices based on the subsidy reforming plan in late 2010, the amount of smuggled fuel shrank to three million litres per day, but last year rose to six million and currently is equal to 10 million litres yet again. The main reason and motivation for this huge amount of fuel smuggling is the price difference inside Iran and its neighbours. For instance, a litre of gasoline is sold at 7000 rials on Iran's open market, about 20 cents, while each auto holder gets 60 litres of gasoline per month as a quota at 4000 rials. The gas-oil price deference is even so