Demand for gasoline in Iran is expected to reach record levels as a report warns that the country may be forced to resume imports more than a decade after it reached self-sufficiency in production of the fuel, shows a report.
The Saturday report by the Fars news agency cited figures by the Iranian Oil Ministry’s fuel department showing the demand for gasoline is expected to reach 120 million liters per day during the high travel season in late March.
The report said that easing of coronavirus restrictions and a successful rollout of a vaccination program by the Iranian government had caused road travel in Iran to surge to levels not seen before the pandemic.
The report said that demand for gasoline is expected to exceed Iran’s total production of the fuel in the upcoming months as it warned that the country may be forced to start taking delivery of gasoline shipments from abroad just years after it became a net exporter of the fuel.
Iran started gasoline exports in 2019 when domestic demand for the fuel dropped to as low as 75 million liters per day.
A series of price hike announced in late 2019 also helped control domestic fuel consumption in Iran, a country with nearly 25 million motorists.
Unconfirmed reports published in local media have suggested that Iran resumed importing diesel fuel in February after demand for the fuel exceeded the local production capacity.
Those reports quoted sources from the Iranian Oil Ministry as saying that diesel shipments had been imported from countries to the north of Iran.