BAGHDAD, Feb 21 (AFP) - Iraq's oil ministry on Monday said it would limit the sale of petrol in jerricans and increase its price, in an effort to curb endemic profiteering.
Jerricans are the preferred containers on the black market.
"The oil ministry has decided to increase the price of petrol to 100 dinars (7.5 US cents) a litre," for jerricans, a statement said.
The ministry specified that the subsidised pump price of 20 dinars a litre (around 1.5 US cents) would remain unchanged for drivers.
The filling up of jerricans will also be confined to just three stations in the capital.
"The increase is aimed at curbing profiteering," the statement said, adding that inspections would be stepped up at petrol stations, where Iraqis can queue for four hours or more to tank up.
The new restriction on jerrican sales could ease the chaos and undermine the rampant black market by effectively creating an official and cheaper one.
Relentless sabotage of pipelines and attacks on tanker trucks on Iraq's perilous roads have caused chronic fuel shortages, especially in the capital.
As electricity has yet to be fully restored, a parallel market has flourished where street vendors impose premium prices on Iraqis unwilling to queue to fill up their cars and generators.
The ban will force black market vendors to buy at a higher price from the three authorised locations and then bring their own prices down to remain competitive if and when queues at other pumps become shorter.
Filling a 20-litre jerrican at the state-subsidised rate used to cost 400 dinars (25 US cents). It will now rise to 2,000 dinars (1.25 dollars), which is still four times cheaper than the average black market rate of 8,000 dinars (five dollars).
Pump prices in Iraq -- which holds the globe's second largest proven oil reserves -- are among the lowest in the world, but the price of black market petrol, paraffin and heating gas has shot up, making the crisis one of the prime concerns on Iraqi minds.
02/21/2005 13:53 GMT - AFP