Reza Sepahvand, spokesperson for the Energy Commission of the Parliament, has examined non-price solutions for managing gasoline consumption in a note and emphasized that using these methods can lead to a reduction in imbalance and gasoline imports.
Non-Price Solutions for Consumption Management
Sepahvand, referring to past experiences, stated that increasing gasoline prices is not necessarily essential and that consumption can be managed by reforming the fuel distribution mechanism and involving the public. He pointed to a daily gap of 10 to 15 million liters between production and consumption in the summer and announced that non-price measures could help improve this situation.
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Organizing Fuel Cards and Reducing Smuggling
One effective measure in this area is organizing fuel cards and limiting the non-transparent use of free station cards. Sepahvand mentioned the implementation of a coding scheme in border provinces and reforming the distribution of quotas as solutions to reduce fuel smuggling. The experience of a pilot implementation of this scheme in Kerman province has shown that by collecting free cards and distributing quotas among vehicle fuel cards, daily gasoline consumption has decreased by one million liters.
According to estimates, about 20 to 21 million liters of fuel are smuggled daily, some of which is used in Tehran province and non-border areas for producing various materials. Sepahvand emphasized the necessity of monitoring fuel distribution and organizing free cards nationwide, stating that if part of the fuel leaving the official network is allocated to the actual consumption of the people, the country's needs can be managed better.
Developing Long-Term Solutions
Sepahvand also pointed to the importance of enhancing fuel consumption standards and developing low-consumption and hybrid vehicles, stating that increasing gasoline production capacity should be pursued alongside consumption management. According to him, with the operation of new refineries, the country's daily gasoline production will increase by about 12 million liters, which is equivalent to 9 percent of the country's gasoline consumption.
Finally, Sepahvand noted that decision-making in the gasoline sector should be accompanied by expert studies and transparent communication to achieve the ultimate goal of managing consumption and ensuring sustainable fuel supply.
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