Surge in petrol prices worries Kurdistan Region residents

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Scenes of emptiness surrounded gas stations across various cities in the Kurdistan Region as petrol prices have hiked more than 50 Iraqi Dinars over the week, with citizens in the Kurdistan Region expressing vast discomfort with the unpleasant situation.

The gradual spike in petrol prices has become a nuisance to residents of the Kurdistan Region. Upticks in prices have forced residents to become conservative with operating their vehicles, with demand having decreased as evident from the lack of queues at many petrol stations.

“Petrol prices negatively affect people’s demands. Previously, people used to refuel their cars with 25,000 IQD when the petrol price was 500 or 600 IQD. Now, the citizens are getting half of that amount with 25,000 IQD,” Jangi Majeed, a gas station owner told Rudaw’s Hadi Salimi on Saturday.

Majeed also claimed that the sale of petrol at his station has diminished from 20,000 liters to approximately 1,200 liters per day in the span of a week due to the high prices.

Updating the price of petrol on the boards of gas stations across Kurdistan Region’s cities has become commonplace.

“People are forming in long lines for petrol, oil, LPG, electricity, and water. We are so annoyed and exhausted because of these kinds of problems,” said Osman Ali, a taxi driver in the region’s capital of Erbil.

In addition to the rising prices, drivers also complain about the long queues in gas stations that sell government-provided fuel, as well as the low quality of petrol, which damages their vehicles, forcing them to spend additional money fixing potential issues.

“I’m worried if I can even get my portion because of the queue. I wait in the queue for approximately an hour and a half or two hours. Also, the quality of the petrol is very low. I changed my fuel pump because of the low quality of the petrol that I filled in this station,” said Sherzad Hussain, another taxi driver.

The Kurdistan Region needs approximately 6 million liters of petrol in a single day.

Iraq's Nineveh province is also facing a lack of fuel, with the shortage accredited to the fuel being allegedly smuggled to the nearby Kurdistan Region. 

Petrol in the Kurdistan Region is not subsidized by the government, and as such, sells for almost double the price than federal Iraq, where the price is around 500 Iraqi dinars per liter.