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Iran’s motorists, whose consumption of petrol is rationed, will be allowed to buy unlimited amounts of gasoline over the New Year holidays but at unsubsidised prices, the oil ministry said.

Iran in June 2007 implemented a long-awaited plan to ration its hugely subsidised petrol, and now limits gas-guzzling motorists to 120 litres a month at the price of just 1000 rials (10 cents) a litre.

But Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said late on Monday that for the New Year holiday period Iranians would be allowed to buy petrol in excess of this quota for the non-subsidised price of 4000 rials (40 cents) a litre.

Motorists will be allowed to buy the extra petrol from one month from Wednesday, he said. Once this period is over, they will again be limited to buying just the cheap but rationed petrol.

The measure is aimed at helping people over the Iranian New Year (Norouz) holiday period which is traditionally a time when hundreds of thousands of people take to the roads for trips to the provinces.

Iran, Opec’s number two oil producer, decided to ration petrol to decrease the colossal state subsidies paid for keeping pump prices down to less than a comparable amount of mineral water.

The country lacks the refineries necessary to produce sufficient petrol for its car-loving 71-million population and is forced to spend billions of dollars each year importing petrol from abroad.

It had been hoped that traffic in Tehran — one of the most congested cities in the Middle East — would be reduced as a result of the rationing plan.

But Iranian motorists have displayed their ingenuity by readily finding petrol on the black market, which is usually priced at around three to four times the pump price.

The rationing initially triggered angry protests, with demonstrators torching petrol stations and yelling slogans against the government, but these rapidly petered out.

Source: iAfrica

The federal government has refused to rule out the possibility its proposed emissions trading scheme will force up petrol prices.

The government will offer a glimpse of the much-awaited scheme to battle climate change when it releases a green paper in July.

A timetable, released this week, said by the end of the year the government would give a “firm indication” of the scheme’s trajectory, which would determine the initial price of carbon.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong reaffirmed the scheme - the centrepiece of efforts to curb greenhouse gases - would begin in 2010.

Asked on Tuesday whether the scheme would force up petrol prices, Senator Wong refused to rule it out.

“Absolutely we know from the Stern report and a from a range of other advisers, including Professor Garnaut, that the cost of neglecting to act to the Australian economy and to households will be significantly greater than … the cost of responsible action now,” Senator Wong said.

The Australian people recognise the scheme would not be painless, she said.

But the government would be “methodical and careful” to ensure the impact was minimised.

Source: The Age