Shafaq News- Nineveh

At 4:00 a.m., Abu Mohammed switches off his taxi's engine to save what little fuel is left in the tank and joins a line of cars outside a state-run station on Mosul's eastern bank. The pumps open at 7:00. Whether any gasoline remains by the time he reaches them is another matter.

"My day starts here in the queue instead of starting with earning a living," the 48-year-old driver told Shafaq News. Some mornings the wait lasts two hours, others four or five, he said, and the car is his family's only source of income.

Scenes like this have become routine in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern Nineveh province, where the latest wave of gasoline shortages is nearing the end of its first month, drivers and residents said. Hundreds of vehicles line up before dawn, and queues stretch for several kilometers.

Omar al-Khalidi, a civil activist in Mosul, said public anger had reached its peak. Residents are filming to show officials in Baghdad and Nineveh that people struggle every day for a basic service, he said, in a country that is among the world's largest oil exporters.

That frustration has spilled onto the roads before. On Sept. 9, security forces dispersed a protest by truck drivers who had blocked a major road at one of the city's entrances over fuel shortages.

Local sources say Nineveh's proximity to the Kurdistan Region has added pressure to supplies. Gasoline in Nineveh is sold at state-subsidized prices, while prices in the neighboring Region are higher.

To stop people crossing in to buy cheaper fuel, Iraq's Oil Ministry introduced a fuel card system and tiered supply quotas. “The measures have made it harder to fill up,” one resident said.

Local authorities have pressed the federal government and the Oil Ministry for a larger gasoline allocation, informed sources in Nineveh told Shafaq News. The provincial administration said earlier that Nineveh's daily quota had been raised from about 3.3 million liters to nearly 3.5 million liters.

A private station owner told Shafaq News that the additional supply had yet to make a clear difference on the ground, with deliveries sometimes arriving late or running out within the first hours of the day because of the number of vehicles waiting.

In late August, Nineveh Governor Abdul Qadir al-Dakhil gave the Petroleum Products Distribution Department until Sept. 1 to resolve the crisis. A month later, the queues persist.

The shortages reach beyond Nineveh. The Oil Ministry attributed broader national shortages to delayed gasoline shipments. It said regional tensions had disrupted tanker movements, widening a gap between domestic production and consumption. National demand stands at about 33 million liters a day and can reach 38 million at peak times, according to the ministry.

Higher fares, lost hours

In Mosul, the effects show up well away from the pumps. Taxi and public transport fares have risen, and employees and students are arriving late to work and classes, another resident said. “Workshops and small businesses that depend on fuel, generators and daily travel have also taken a hit,” he added.