Iran accounts for 70% of gasoline exports to Afghanistan, the head of the Iran-Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce said.
“Close to 2.5 million liters of gasoline are burnt in Afghanistan daily, of which 1.7 million liters are imported from Iran through Dogharoun border crossing,” Mirajan Soleimankhalil was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Imam Khomeini Shazand Oil Refinery in Arak County, Markazi Province, sells around 1.5 million liters of the fuel to the neighboring state, he added.
The official noted that Afghanistan’s daily diesel requirement is estimated to be around 3.5 million liters, but less than 1 million liters per day are imported from Iran, which explains why the fuel is more expensive than gasoline.
Each liter of gasoline and diesel is sold at $12 and $15 in the war-stricken country respectively.
“About 17 million liters of diesel have been exported to Afghanistan since February,” he said, adding that the country has also imported 50 million liters of gasoline and 45 million liters of liquefied natural gas from Iran in the same period.
Dogharoun border crossing (known as Islam Qala on the Afghan side) is located in Khorasan Razavi’s Taybad County.
According to Soleimankhalil, the checkpoint is one of Iran’s top five trade terminals, located 120 kilometers west of Herat, for entering one of Afghanistan’s main consumer markets.
Afghanistan is one of Iran’s major trading partners in the region with annual exports worth $2 billion. The two sides have projected a trade target of $10 billion.
According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration's Statistics Office, the National Iranian Oil Company exported around 2 billion liters of gasoline between March 2021 and March 2022.
The National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, a subsidiary of NIOC, produces 105 million liters of gasoline per day, of which 100 ml/d are used domestically.
Iran Energy Exchange
The Oil Ministry started offering oil products, namely gasoline and diesel, on the Iran Energy Exchange in 2019 when daily consumption was around 85 million liters.
Each liter of gasoline is sold at 5 cents in Iran and the same amount of fuel costs $12 in Afghanistan.
Figures released by the Headquarters to Combat Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Exchange show that close to 9 million liters of oil byproducts, including diesel and gasoline, are smuggled out daily.
According to Mojtaba Mahfouzi, a lawmaker from Abadan, the huge figure (9 ml/d) indicates that the illicit and dangerous fuel trafficking is a very organized business that cannot be undertaken by smugglers alone.
“A mafia-like organization is controlling the whole thing behind the scene, but what we are seeing is a couple of smugglers. All related organizations and executive bodies in the country should be held accountable for the crime,” he said.
The illicit trade is carried out systemically and with the support of well-placed lobbies that know how to dodge the law-enforcement agencies.
Among neighbors, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the main destinations of the smuggled fuel.
