The plan to transfer gasoline quotas from fuel cards to bank cards will start as a pilot project in 5 provinces of the country from the beginning of October 2023. This plan is designed to optimize energy consumption and is in accordance with the mandates of the Seventh Development Plan, and will be implemented simultaneously with the activation of the unused capacity of 18 million cubic meters of compressed natural gas (CNG) per day.
Details of the Plan and Its Objectives
Policy-making bodies are working to direct 4 million dual-fuel vehicles towards alternative fuels and improve banking payment infrastructures to control the demand pressure on gasoline without immediate price changes. Recent updates indicate that the infrastructure for implementing this plan has been tested twice in several stations, and from the beginning of October, a broader pilot implementation will commence.
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Currently, the gasoline allocation mechanism is based on "vehicle" and "physical card". This model has become one of the main channels for resource wastage due to issues such as the possibility of buying and selling cards in border areas and the mismatch between the consumer's identity and the vehicle owner. By transferring the quota to the banking network, an online consumer identity verification chain is established, allowing for accurate tracking of consumption patterns.
Challenges and Consequences of the Plan
The main limitation of the bank card plan is its dependence on the stability of the internet network and the Shaparak infrastructure at gas stations. In the offline fuel card model, temporary internet outages did not prevent refueling; however, transferring the process to the banking network could lead to long queues and public dissatisfaction in case of server disruptions. This issue is raised as a digital risk in the implementation of similar plans.
The Iranian economy has no choice but to implement the mandates of the Seventh Development Plan to overcome the gasoline imbalance crisis. Data shows that focusing solely on gasoline imports has reached a dead end. The plan to transfer quotas to bank cards is ostensibly a technical upgrade, but fundamentally, it is a prerequisite for transitioning from a "vehicle allocation" system to an "individual allocation" system.
The success of this plan depends on two factors: first, the stability of the banking network's communication infrastructure at fuel stations, and second, the actual utilization of the dormant CNG capacity as a buffer against demand shocks. If the government can develop the quota exchange platform based on these bank cards, it will create the possibility of forming a transparent energy market for households.
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