Iranians upset with Jimmy Carter like energy policy

AP/NY Times:

Two gas stations were torched early Wednesday in Tehran as angry Iranians protested fuel rationing measures suddenly enforced by the government, while many other Iranians lined up to fill their tanks.

There was no official confirmation Wednesday linking the two gas stations that could be seen burning in Tehran to the protests against the rationing, announced late Tuesday by the Oil Ministry. The measure sparked long lines at stations as Iranians tried to get one last fill-up before the limitations kicked in.

State radio reported early Wednesday that several stations were attacked ''by vandals,'' without giving further details. State-run television also said some of the vandals were detained. It did not give number of the detained people.

Reports that gas stations in several cities across the country were also in flames could not be independently confirmed.

People were still forming lines at gas stations on Wednesday, though lines had shortened compared to the previous evening.

''I could not fill my car last night because of the rush. Now I have come to experience my first quota,'' said Hassan Riahi, a 21-year-old engineering student, as he waited at a Tehran gas station guarded by four police officers.

Iran is the second biggest exporter in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. But because it has low refining capability, it has to import more than 50 percent of its gasoline needs. To keep prices low, the government subsidized gas sales, saddling it with enormous costs.

The government had been planning for weeks to implement rationing, which was supposed to begin May 21 but was repeatedly put off. In May, the government reduced subsidies for gas, causing a 25 percent jump in the price.

...

''This man, Ahmadinejad, has damaged all things. The timing of the rationing is just one case,'' said Reza Khorrami, a 27-year-old teacher who was among those lining up at one Tehran gas station before midnight on Tuesday.

Some stations in Tehran had lines more than a half mile long. Minutes before midnight, car owners still caught in the long lines began blaring their horns over and over in protest -- sparking arguments with nearby residents trying to sleep.

...

By 2014, Iran wants to raise its oil production capacity to 5.3 million barrels a day, from the current 4.3 million barrels, and natural gas from 560 million cubic meters a day to 1.5 billion cubic meters, Iranian Minister of Petroleum Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said recently.

''Iran would need $93 billion in foreign investment and more than $43 billion in domestic financial resources by 2014. The country cannot meet that level of investment and technology needs on its own,'' he said at an oil-and-gas conference earlier this month in Malaysia.

In addition, Iran needs another $12 billion investment to raise its refining capacity from 1.625 million barrels a day to 2.94 million barrels in the next 5 years, he said.

Those last three paragraphs point out why the disinvestment campaign is so important. The gas riots are showing tangible results for denying Iran investments it needs to be energy independent. They also show the follow of ignoring the market pricing of scarce products. By subsidizing gas, Iran has created demand it can't meet. It has not really helped the poor so much as made everyone poorer. It needs to give up the Jimmy Carter policy and let the market place work. If the government fears that will cause a revolt, they need to ask themselves what they have now.

Gateway Pundit has several photos and links on the Iranian gas riots.