Page 14 - DMEA Week 34 2021

DMEA FUELS DMEA

Iran resumes fuel exports to Afghanistan

MIDDLE EAST IRAN reportedly restarted fuel exports to grey and black market petroleum product trad-
Afghanistan a few days ago following a request ing, part of which has involved the trucking of
from the emerging Taliban government. fuel to neighbours including Afghanistan.
The Taliban feel empowered by the US Iran’s main exports to Afghanistan are in fact
withdrawal from Afghanistan to buy Washing- gasoline and gasoil. Iran exported about 400,000
ton-sanctioned Iran’s oil more openly, Reuters on tonnes of fuel to its neighbour from May 2020
August 23 reported an Iranian official as saying. to May 2021, according to a report published by
The price of gasoline in Afghanistan reached PetroView, an Iranian oil and gas research and
$900 per tonne as many Afghans drove out of consultancy platform.
cities, fearing a return to the harsh regime run
under Sharia Law that the Sunni Muslim Tali- Vital fuel flows
ban imposed when they were last in power two Iranian fuel flows have been vital to Afghanistan
decades ago. in the last few years, according to traders and an
To counter the price spike, the Taliban, it is Afghan government report, seen by Reuters.
said, asked Shi’ite Muslim Iran to keep the bor- Between March 2020 and March 2021, Iran
ders open for traders. accounted for $367mn of imports, mostly of fuel,
“The Taliban sent messages to Iran saying according to the report compiled by the Afghan
‘you can continue the exports of petroleum ministry of finance, chambers of commerce and
products’,” Hamid Hosseini, board member and data from private enterprises.
spokesperson of Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochem- A source with direct knowledge of the mat-
ical Products Exporters’ Union, in Tehran, told ter, who asked not to be named, told the news
Reuters. service that more than 1mn tonnes per year, or
The Taliban, the news agency added, sent over 20,000 barrels per day, of Iranian fuel goes
messages both to Iranian traders and to an Ira- to Afghanistan.
nian chamber of commerce, which has close “I think the new Iranian government will sig-
links to the government. nificantly expand cooperation with the Taliban
Subsequently, the Islamic Republic of Iran government. Iran can easily double its trade with
Customs Administration (IRICA) ended a ban Afghanistan. The government of [Ashraf] Ghani
on fuel exports to Afghanistan. It was brought in was always trying to limit cooperation with Iran
on August 6 because of Iran’s anxieties about the since Iran was under US sanctions,” Hosseini was
safety of trading in the country. also quoted as saying.
Those concerns have been eased by the Tali- Afghanistan has no developed oil industry of
ban’s attitude, Hosseini was also cited as saying. its own. It is limited to six mini-refineries that
Since the US under its previous Trump produce just several thousand barrels per day of
administration brought in a sanction against refined products each. They run on light oil from
Tehran that bars fuel exports, Iran has turned to Turkmenistan.™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 26•August•2021