Iran’s daily gasoline use hits record of 144 million liters on eve of Persian New Year holidays

The National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), a subsidiary of the Iranian Oil Ministry, said in a statement on Tuesday that the daily gasoline usage in the country had reached 144.2 million liters a day earlier.

It said the usage was 13 million liters or 10% higher than the consumption reported on March 17, 2024.

The NIOPDC said that Monday’s gasoline consumption represented an increase of less than 12 million liters from the previous day.

It added that the gasoline consumption in Iran has averaged at 124 million liters per day in the year leading to late March 2024.

The figures come as Iranians prepare to celebrate Nowruz holidays which mark the start of the new calendar year in the country.

The occasion, which will start on March 21 this year and will see two weeks of closures of schools and businesses, marks a busy travel season in Iran with millions taking to the roads to visit various cities and towns across the country.

NIOPDC’s Tuesday figures about gasoline consumption exceeded its earlier forecasts suggesting that the usage would peak at 135 million liters per day in the days leading to Nowruz.

The company announced in mid-January that gasoline production in Iran had increased by nearly 10% in the three months before that, saying that total gasoline output from the country’s refineries had reached 107 million liters per day.

Iran has been importing limited amounts of gasoline to respond to a rising demand for fuel, a problem which has been exacerbated in recent years because of heavily subsidized prices that have encouraged smuggling across the borders.