There will be no increase in the price of gasoline for private car owners in the next Iranian calendar year (March 2015-16), Mehr news agency reported.
There are plans to increase the price of subsidized gasoline from around 19 cents per liter to 29 cents, however, this is unlikely to be applied by March 2016, government's spokesperson and head of the Management and Planning Organization Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said.
The government offers a 60 liter quota of subsidized gasoline per month at around 21 cents per liter for private cars with engines of below 2,000 cubic centimeters.
Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi, deputy chairman of the Majlis economic committee also said in a statement that both parliament and government are in agreement on gasoline prices and it will not increase over the next 15 months.
Gasoline consumption significantly rose in the March-September period and even reached three-digit figures in the summer, but then reached 65 million liters per day low.
An average of 70 million liters per day of gasoline and 18 million cubic meters per day of compressed natural gas (CNG) has been distributed over the past nine months.
Expansion in the number of CNG stations and establishment of the smart fuel-card system are among important measures that have helped reduce gasoline consumption.
According to estimates, the daily gasoline supply would have reached 140 million liters per day were the two projects not launched, but in fact it has been reduced almost by half.
As a measure to decrease gasoline consumption, the government recently cancelled or altered the fuel allocation of more than 6 million smart fuel cards. In the first phase of the plan, consumption of subsidized gasoline decreased by 7.3 million liters per day.
Iran significantly reduced energy subsidies in December 2010 as part of a five-year program to gradually increase prices of oil products, natural gas and electricity to the full cost price. In January 2013, it ended supply of subsidized gasoline for cars with 2,000cc or above engines, and restricted sales of subsidized gasoline near border areas.
An average of 25-30 million liters of gasoline per day was supplied in fuel stations over the past 9 months, but the volume is expected to increase sharply in line with further adjustments to smart fuel cards.
