The coronavirus outbreak has decreased the sale of gasoline at gas stations across Iran by a massive 50%, a board member of the Gasoline Station Owners' Association said.
“Due to the noticeable plunge, owners are finding it exceedingly difficult to pay wages, let alone hire new workers to fill up the tanks,” Ebrahim Be’aji was quoted as saying by ILNA.
According to National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company data, consumption of gasoline has dropped to 67 million liters per day – a number unseen in decades.
The figure was 75 ml/d in February and 85 ml/d in January. The present rate (67 ml/d) is expected to decline further as most households have decided to cancel their trip during the Nowruz (Persian New Year) holiday season because of the infectious disease that has gripped the world.
The decline that first started when fuel was rationed, intensified with the spread of coronavirus in the past three weeks. The deadly virus has literally forced many people to self-quarantine at home.
Following the government’s decision to raise prices at the pumps in November 2019 (consumption was 110 million liters per day), fuel sales declined 16% in December and reached 95 million liters/d, he said.
The downward trend continued and consumption declined to 85 million liters/d in January 2020.
As per a directive issued by NIORDC last week, to help prevent the spread of the disease (aka COVID-19) gas station attendants have a duty to fill up the cars, but this is apparently not possible because the number of workers (at the pumps) is limited and employing new attendants is simply out of the question, he added.
NIORDC should provide the stations with disposable gloves and disinfectants so that car owners can use them for fill up, he added.
If things are in their proper place “people’s time will not be wasted in the queues, and spread of the disease can be controlled to some extent.”
Following rumors on social media about shutting down gas pumps, NIORDC said there are no such plans and stations will keep working round the clock as usual.
Rumors mills on social media had it that the government has plans to limit the sale of fuel at the pumps to compel people to travel less in and outside cities, stay at home to reduce spread of the virus and create more breathing space for the overstretched hospital and medical staff.
Health officials in Tehran up until Friday confirmed 11,364 cases of infection in the country with the novel virus, with 514 deaths.
Local news outlets announced last week that as per the parliament's Integrated Commission’s approval, car owners would be entitled to 120 liters of extra subsidized gasoline for the Norouz holiday season that starts on March 20.
Nonetheless, Ali Rabiei, the government spokesman, has said that the plan to charge fuel cards (for the Norouz holiday) has been postponed.
