Energy | Nature

50 Baghdad gas stations to be 24-hour

Posted : Wed, 30 May 2007 22:34:01 GMT
By : Energy News Editor
Category : Energy (Environment)
News Alerts by Email ( click here )
Energy Environment News | Home
BAGHDAD, May 30 Iraq's Oil Ministry will open 50 gas stations in Baghdad 24 hours a day as the fuel crisis worsens and the oil industry is unable to keep up with demand.

Iraqis wait for hours in line for gas that has skyrocketed in price since the 2003 invasion. Gas was subsidized, but that subsidy must be drawn down, according to terms of the economic structural adjustment program of the International Monetary Fund.

Issam Jihad, spokesman for the ministry, said the 50 stations would begin operating to ease the long lines at the pump, Al-Sabaah reports. He also said security at the stations would be increased as night falls.

McLatchy Newspapers reports licensed gas stations sell usually diluted gas for $1.22 a gallon -- 10 times the pre-war cost for a nation suffering from mass unemployment and violence. For more than $3 a gallon, consumers can purchase gas from the black market.

While Iraq has more oil in the world than every country but Saudi Arabia and Iran, its overworked refineries must battle a lack of investment and steady electricity supply as well as smuggling and attacks in order to serve the population.

So Iraq imports much of its transportation, heating and cooking fuel, though there is still not an adequate supply to serve its citizens.

The Oil Ministry has been in talks with both India and Iran to build four refineries to increase supplies.

Copyright 2007 by UPI

Share/Save/Bookmark

Article : 50 Baghdad gas stations to be 24-hour
Print this article
Email this article

Stay Updated
News gadget on your Google homepage
Subscribe to a news feed in Google Reader


Related News

ElBaradei: Iran has not totally rejected nuclear fuel plan
Berlin - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Friday that he believes that Iran has not totally rejected his agency's nuclear fuel plan, but that time was running out. The ball is now in Iran's court. I hope they wi...

New incident at world's largest nuclear plant in Japan
Tokyo - Smoke rose Thursday from a currently closed nuclear power plant in Japan, but the operator said there was no radiation leak and no one was injured. The smoke emerged from the brake of the hoisting function of a crane in the turbine room of a ...

Iran will not send enriched uranium abroad
Tehran - Iran will not send its enriched uranium abroad for further processing, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Wednesday. Talking to ISNA news agency, Mottaki added that Iran would, however, consider a nuclear fuel swap inside the c...

China, US firm sign deal for world's largest solar plant
Beijing - US firm First Solar Inc said it signed a framework agreement with the Chinese government Tuesday to build what could become the world's largest solar power plant in China's Inner Mongolia region. Arizona-based First Solar said Tuesday's dea...

French company Areva to provide enriched uranium for Czech utility
Paris - French nuclear energy company Areva said Tuesday it has signed a 15-year contract with Czech utility CEZ to provide enriched uranium for its Temelin power plant. A statement by CEZ said the contract was a very important part of its long-ter...

Syrian explanation about uranium does not square with IAEA tests
Vienna - Syria's initial explanation about uranium traces found by the International Atomic Energy Agency on its territory do not square with the agency's analysis, an IAEA report issued on Monday said. The document said that no progress has been ma...

Russian nuclear regulator worried about increasing atomic waste
Moscow - Russia is getting buried in nuclear waste - about 550 million tons - and needs to do something about it, the Interfax news agency Monday quoted the country's nuclear regulator, Rosatom, as saying. Resolving the problem will take decades, sai...

Have your Say
Name
Email
Subject
Your Comment

Enter Verification code
 
  

 

 

More Energy (Environment) News click here
Follow The Earth Times
Subscribe to RSS Follow Earth Times on TwitterNews by email
Share/Save/Bookmark

 
 



 
Subscribe to free Earthtimes
News Alerts by Email Click here
For RSS Feeds Click here
or Create your own RSS

Add to Google Toolbar
Breaking News
Press Releases

 

What a great picture on your flat screen TV!.... That's not our TV. It's our window. The sea level has risen a bit.


The Earth Times
News Category

© 2009 www.earthtimes.org, The Earth Times, All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy
Earth Times accept no responsibility or liability either directly or indirectly for views or opinions expressed in articles or comments.