The crisis of gasoline consumption in the Iranʹs transportation sector

Fossil fuels have the greatest share in supplying the worldʹs energy demands. Regarding the limited natural resources, fuel consumption management and energy planning in the end-user sectors are two great matters of importance. Among the fossil fuels, gasoline is the principal fuel for light-duty vehicles. In Iran, fuel consumption, especially that of gasoline, has increased sharply with the growth rate of 10.2% for the year 2006 in comparison with that in 2005, turning into a big crisis in the recent years. On the other hand, enormous subsidies for importing 40% of domestic demands, which have reached more than 10 billion US$, are too much to be supplied. In this study, we have assessed the gasoline consumption, production, import and prices; reviewed main causes of the tremendous growth rate of consumption, current conservation policies and their advantages or disadvantages (SWOT analysis); proposed short- to long-term solutions and strategies for efficient gasoline consumption management; and finally, current strategies and proposed solutions are analyzed and evaluated. A foregone conclusion strongly suggests that not only the low price of motor gasoline but also mass production of vehicles with the conventional technology, likewise, affects motor gasoline demand. A second conclusion is that gasoline crisis in Iran has no straight solution, and that fundamental strategies and policies are needed to solve the problem.