50 Baghdad gas stations to be 24-hour
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related News
Baltics reaffirm commitment to new nuclear plant Vilnius - The prime ministers of three Baltic states said Friday they remained committed to the joint construction of a new nuclear power station for the region in which Poland will also have a share. After talks in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, th...
India, Sweden hold talks on climate change, energy New Delhi - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Swedish counterpart, Fredrik Reinfeldt, Thursday held talks on a wide range of issues in hopes of providing a fresh impetus to bilateral ties in the areas of trade, energy and environment. Sing...
EU's Barroso urges Ukraine to avoid disruptions in gas supplies Brussels - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Thursday urged Ukraine to do everything in its power to prevent a repeat of last winter's gas crisis, in which a fight with Russia over money cut off supplies to much of Europe. Europea...
Iran favours purchase of nuclear fuel, envoy says - Summary Vienna - Iran favours purchasing nuclear fuel for its research reactor, Tehran's UN ambassador in Vienna said Monday, indicating the country is reluctant to send uranium abroad for reprocessing. That would go against the concept favoured by the Unite...
Timor Sea oil rig catches fire Sydney - A Thai oil exploration company said Sunday its leaking Timor Sea oil well had caught fire. The West Atlas drilling platform operated by PTTEP Australasia in the Montara field 690 kilometres west of Darwin has been leaking around 400 barrels ...
Lawmaker says Tehran reactor to be shut down Tehran - A senior Iranian member of parliament said Saturday that Tehran's research reactor would be shut down in the near future, making the nuclear fuel deal with world powers irrelevant. The Tehran reactor will soon be replaced by the 40-megawatt...
ANALYSIS:Experts gloomy about Iranian uranium deal Vienna - There is little hope that Iran will agree to an multinational deal to reduce its uranium stockpile, experts said Friday, as the plan has got caught up in Iran's fractious internal politics. While the United States, Russia and France have sai...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|