Kurdish party: Gasoline in KRI sold 140% above production cost
Shafaq News- Al-Sulaymaniyah
Gasoline costing no more than 500 dinars (USD 0.38) per liter to produce was sold in the Kurdistan Region’s Al-Sulaymaniyah for as much as 1,200 dinars (USD 0.91) before the current shortage, National Stance Movement (Al-Mawqif) coordinator Ali Hama Saleh said on Tuesday, demanding disclosure of the Region’s fuel-pricing mechanism.
In a statement, Hama Saleh clarified that “company documents” showed refineries receiving discounted crude and calculating costs at an exchange rate of 132,000 dinars per USD 100. Citing February contracts, he priced crude at USD 554 per ton and USD 332 after the discount, equivalent to about 438,000 dinars.
Each ton produces nearly 1,400 liters, while refining costs about 18 dinars (USD 0.014) per liter and transportation about USD 10 per ton. Based on those figures, he estimated the total production cost at no more than 500 dinars per liter.
Al-Sulaymaniyah alone requires about 7 million liters of gasoline daily during summer but currently has only 3 million, leaving a shortfall of approximately 4 million liters.
On August 3, Fox Reforming Refinery owner Sardar Haji Khalid explained that rising prices were driven by regional supply shortages and the end of informal gasoline transfers from other Iraqi provinces to Erbil and Al-Sulaymaniyah. Still, he predicted that the city’s gasoline price crisis would end within two months.
The Kurdistan Regional Government had capped commercial regular gasoline at 850 dinars (USD 0.64) per liter and maintained government-supplied gasoline at 750 dinars (USD 0.57). Before the shortage worsened, regular gasoline exceeded 1,300 dinars (USD 0.98) per liter in parts of the Kurdistan Region, while improved gasoline reached about 1,750 dinars (USD 1.33) and super gasoline around 2,000 dinars (USD 1.52).
Read more: Public transport drivers seek cheaper fuel in Al-Sulaymaniyah
