BAGHDAD: Drivers formed long lines outside fuel stations in Baghdad on Saturday as gasoline supplies dropped in oil-rich Iraq due to import disruptions caused by the Middle East war.
Despite being OPEC’s second largest oil producer, Iraq imports oil derivatives because its refineries do not produce enough gasoline to meet domestic demand.
In recent weeks, as regional hostilities drag on, long queues have been reappearing every few days, mostly outside government-run fuel stations in Baghdad and other provinces.
Baghdad resident Ibrahim Hashem waited for two hours outside a fuel station on Friday without any luck, only to return early the next day hoping to fill his car.
“It is unreasonable that we produce so many barrels of oil a day, yet still do not have enough gasoline to meet our daily needs,” Hashem told AFP outside a fuel station in central Baghdad.
