While the program to again use fuel cards is due to be launched soon, Bijan Haj-Mohammadreza, head of the Filling Stations Union, says almost half the pumps at the gas stations are not equipped with the necessary software and hardware.
Last month the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company informed car and motorcycle owners to reactivate their old fuel cards or apply for new ones. Through the project, gasoline smart cards, which were used for buying fuel rations in the past, are now connected to bank cards for easy payment, ISNA reported.
“At the gas stations almost 55% of fuel nozzles are connected to the new system and the rest need to be upgraded or repaired,” Haj-Mohammadreza said.
“There are about 4,000 filling stations across the country and upgrading all the nozzles requires a huge investment,” he added.
To reduce the cost of issuing and managing millions of new fuel cards, the Central Bank of Iran said the existing bank debit cards can also be used as fuel cards. The base data would be the national ID numbers of vehicle owners and the relevant information would be stored in the database.
It is reported that in the next few weeks the government will have the technical tools in place to make the use of fuel cards obligatory at the filling stations.
One million plus car owners registered for the new cards in the past two weeks. Today (Saturday) is the last day for registration and the schedule to implement the new gasoline sale plan will be announced soon.
The government has said reintroduction of the program, which was first implemented in 2007, is apparently linked to curbing consumption and ending fuel smuggling in the border regions and has nothing to do with rationing.
Fuel smuggling to neighboring countries is estimated at 10-20 million liters per day as petrol costs a lot more there compared to Iran.
Smuggling became widespread in recent months after the rial fell to unprecedented lows against all major currencies due to the new US sanctions following Washington's withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal signed between Tehran and the six major powers in 2015.
