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Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=73413
Iran to Ration Gasoline
(AFP/Daily Star-Lebanon) Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said Friday that Iran would stop importing gasoline in September and begin rationing it, ironic for a country that is OPEC's number-two exporter of crude oil. Iran's refineries have a capacity of 40 million liters of gasoline a day, but demand is close to 70 million liters. Gasoline is extremely cheap in Iran thanks to massive subsidies. A liter of regular gasoline costs just nine cents. An explosion in car ownership and gasoline smuggling to Iran's neighbors, where prices are far higher, has caused an explosion in demand. Iran loses more than $1 billion a year because of the smuggling. The shortfall has up to now been met by importing gasoline.