Ahmadinejad wants radical decrease of petrol consumption in Iran

Jul 1, 2007, 12:03 GMT

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday called for a drastic decrease in petrol consumption in the country, despite widespread protests over the country's recent petrol rationing plan.

'We currently have a daily consumption of 80 million litres and we would prefer to reduce this to under 60 million litres,' Ahmadinejad told state television.

Following implementation of a governmental order, petrol rationing has been in effect throughout Iran since last Wednesday.

Under the plan 100 litres of fuel per month - at 0.108 dollars per litre for normal and 0.151 dollars for super petrol - were allocated for normal cars, 300 litres for governmental cars and 800 litres for taxis.

Widespread protests were held against the plan, with riots breaking out and several petrol stations set ablaze.

'I am aware of the problems caused for the people and apologise to all of them ... but we want to reduce petrol imports for the sake of the people and allocate the extra money for other development projects,' the president said.

Although Iran is a leading OPEC member and the world's fourth biggest oil producer at 4.2 million barrels per day, the Islamic state must import more than 40 per cent of the country's petrol needs and spend 5 - 8 billion dollars annually on imports due to a lack of refineries and a preference for oil exports.

Ahmadinejad reiterated his call for a switch from petrol to the compressed natural gas system (CNG) in order to further decrease the necessity of petrol imports.

'In such a case we might have no more need for petrol imports,' the president said.

Since rationing took effect on Wednesday, the capital Tehran has seen a visible decrease in traffic congestion and an improvement in air quality, realising two of the main aims of the rationing plan.

According to latest police statistics, traffic jams in the capital Tehran have dropped by 20 per cent and accidents fallen by 30 per cent.

Replying to criticism that public transportation should have been improved before rationing, Ahmadinejad said that this issue was one of the most important aims of the government.

The president rejected Western press reports that the plan was a precautionary move in case of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear projects, saying that the two issue had no relevance to each other.

Ahmadinejad had however said Saturday that the plan required national will to help the country gain invulnerability to international threats.

Observers believe that although the petrol rationing plan may have positive impact in the future, the decision is still very unpopular and could dent Ahmadinejad's status before parliamentary elections in March next year or even negatively affect his chances for re- election in 2009.