Oil Storms

Gas rationing triggers unrest in Iran
At least a dozen filling stations are torched as demonstrators take to the streets after the surprise edict.
By Ramin Mostaghim and Borzou Daragahi, Special to The Times

TEHRAN -- Demonstrators took to the streets and torched at least a dozen gas stations after the surprise start of gasoline rationing early this morning, Iranian news agencies and witnesses reported.
Under a plan to curb rapidly increasing domestic consumption of Iran's limited supply of gasoline, the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad implemented a program that limits motorists to 26.4 gallons a month at the subsidized priced of 42 cents per gallon.
The proposal sparked public fury when it was first announced earlier this year. It had been temporarily shelved, only to be revived Tuesday night just two hours before it went into effect.
"From midnight tonight, gasoline for all motor vehicles and motorcycles will be rationed," state television said in an announcement quoting the Oil Ministry.

Motorists rushed to gas stations to fill up before the plan went into effect. Angry mobs in the capital set gas stations afire. A spokesman for the fire department told the daily World of Industry newspaper that 21 gas stations were burned down, but a source at the Gas Station Owners syndicate told the same paper the number was 16 and others cited the figure 12.
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Despite huge oil reserves, Iran lacks refining capacity to meet rising domestic demand for gasoline and must import fuel from abroad, which it sells at a subsidized rate that costs the government at least $4 billion annually.
The new plan allows motorists to pump gas only with a debit card that keeps track of monthly consumption. The plan will be in place for four months and then reevaluated, according to the announcement on state-controlled television.
Lawmakers huddled with Oil Minister Vaziri Hamaneh in closed-door meetings today to discuss a plan for setting a price for fuel to be sold above the rationing quota.
Some experts speculated that the rioting was organized by leaders of smuggling rings that sell subsidized fuel to other Persian Gulf countries for huge profits. Others cautioned not to read too much into the unrest.
"These types of revolts are not new," said Mostafa Labbad, a Cairo-based Iran expert and publisher of Sharqnameh, an Egyptian journal about Iranian and Turkish affairs. "In Karaj and the outer parts of Iran, there are such rebellions every two or three months. They show the unpopularity of the country's economic policies."
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