Iran Increases Petrol Ration

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran on Saturday started to allow motorists an extra 20 liters (5.2 gallons) of petrol a month under a rationing scheme aimed at cutting back on frenzied consumption.

Private cars have a monthly quota of 120 liters (31.2 gallons) for the next four months.

The average daily consumption was about 59 million liters during six months of rationing, showing a 22 percent fall in comparison with the same period in the previous year.

Iran, OPEC’s number two oil producer, in late June finally introduced a long-awaited plan to ration petrol to decrease the colossal state subsidies paid for keeping pump prices low.

Petrol in Iran is now charged at 1,000 rials (11 cents) – still less than a comparable amount of mineral water.