Erbil drivers line up following petrol prices hike

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The recent rise in the fuel prices has caused long queues of vehicles in Erbil province for cheaper petrol provided by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The crisis is believed to be caused by the scarcity of fuel in the province. 

The prices of low quality petrol, known as “normal,” stood around 800 IQD ($0.5) in the Kurdistan Region in recent months following years of high prices which had resulted in long lines of vehicles at petrol stations, waiting to receive cheaper petrol provided by the Kurdish and Iraqi governments. 

The prices of the low quality petrol reached over 1100 IQD in recent days, drawing the ire of drivers who were expecting the prices to dramatically decrease following several deals between Erbil and Baghdad and the passing of the Iraqi federal budget which includes the Region’s share. 

“We were happy to hear that Iraq and Kurdistan had reached an agreement because we expected the prices to fall,” Mawloud Homer, a driver in Erbil, told Rudaw. 

“I have been queuing every day for 32 years to receive petrol. How long should this be the case?” asked another driver. 

A liter of the cheaper petrol provided by the Iraqi government is worth 750 IQD. The same fuel is provided to drivers in federally-controlled provinces for 450 IQD. Baghdad has stopped sending cheap petrol to the Kurdistan Region since July 10.

Short queues were seen even in petrol stations which did not sell the cheaper fuel in Erbil due to scarcity. 

This crisis comes at a time when hundreds of thousands of civil servants in the Region have not received their June salaries. The KRG has come under fire for failing to distribute the salaries of its employees despite receiving most of its monthly federal budget in recent days. 

The prices of the higher quality petrol in Erbil province is over 1500 IQD.  

However, the crisis has not hit Sulaimani province as hard as it did in the Kurdish capital. A liter of the low quality petrol is worth 950 IQD in Sulaimani. 

KRG’s natural resources ministry on July 26 allowed companies to import fuel to the Region in a bid to lower the prices but its results have yet to emerge. The ministry later said that over a million liters of cheaper petrol was imported, but did not specify where from, adding that more was set to arrive, and claiming that this would have a positive impact on the prices. 

“I want to tell the government that it is a shame that one’s house is located in the middle of a sea while its occupants die of thirst,” said an angry driver in Erbil province’s Soran administration. 

The Region used to export over 400,000 barrels of crude oil to the international markets before the process was suspended late March following a ruling by a Paris-based arbitration court.

CORRECTION: The piece initially stated that the petrol was provided by the Iraqi federal government but was later corrected.