TEHRAN, March 15 (UPI) -- Iran increased its national inventories of gasoline by nearly 250 million gallons compared with the last calendar year, government data show.
Government data show that Iran has increased its gasoline inventories by 249.4 million gallons compared with the yearlong reporting period ending March 21, the semiofficial Mehr News Agency reports.
Consumption rates averaged 17 million gallons per day, which is 845,000 gallons less than the previous calendar year, the report adds.
Iran enacted tough restrictions on petrol consumption in recent years. Because of crumbling infrastructure, Iran imports as much as 40 percent of its gas to meet domestic demand.
Washington is considering tightening sanctions on Iran, meanwhile, because of a controversial nuclear program. Vitol, one of the world's largest oil and gas traders, said last week it would stop dealing with Iran.
The data, Mehr said, show Iran plans to import 5.8 million gallons of gasoline during the next year.
Iran sits on some of the largest oil and gas deposits in the world. Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mir Kazemi said his country could handle any sanctions on its gasoline sector, which Washington describes as Iran's Achilles' heel.
