Qamishli – Abdulhalim Suleiman – North-Press Agency
Mahmoud al-Ali parked his taxi at the corner of the main street in Qamishli city, northeastern Syria, confused and thinking about an appropriate fare to deliver customers after the rise of the price of petrol, which is also not available from most of the city's fuel stations.
Qamishli has been witnessing an unprecedented rise in the price of premium gasoline. The price of one liter reached 1,000 Syrian pounds ($0.60) after it was sold at 600 pounds ($0.36) previously.
This type of gasoline is available at one gas station in Qamishli, and despite the high price, the taxi driver complains about its poor quality.
"The sound of the casts is heard when I press the gas. As drivers, we think twice about delivering passengers to remote locations, especially outside the city, or traveling over long distances, for fear that using the available gasoline will harm our engines and break them down," he said.
One liter of regular gasoline is sold for 100 Syrian pounds ($0.06), while super, which is refined twice and higher quality than the regular, is sold for 210 Syrian pounds ($0.12 dollars).
Some drivers try to use regular or super gasoline, mixing it with the premium gasoline to save on price, but this process also damages their car engines.
Mahmoud al-Ali called on the responsible authorities in the Autonomous Administration to provide premium gasoline of high quality to reduce the damage to their cars in addition to reducing its price.
A Qamishli gas station owner who preferred not to be named told North-Press that they asked SADCOP company, a local fuel company in the town of Remailan east of Qamishli, to provide premium gasoline after running out of fuel reserves in his station, but the company answered that it is not available.
The owner of the station pointed out that SADCOP is responsible for setting the prices of all kinds, including raising the price of premium gasoline from 600 Syrian pounds to 1,000 pounds.
Sadiq Muhammad al-Khalaf, co-chair of the General Petrol Department in North and East Syria, told North-Press that the Autonomous Administration imported this type of gasoline from outside the country in dollars, referring to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and noted that the rise in price is due to the collapse of the value of the Syrian pound against the dollar.
Since the beginning of 2020, the value of the US dollar has increased against the Syrian pound by 60%, as the lira ended the 2019 dealings on the black market at 915 against one dollar, while its exchange rate in the past days reached more than 1,700 pounds.
The official in the Department of Hydrocarbons did not disclose to North-Press the reasons for the availability of premium gasoline in one gas station in the city, while noting that the prices of ordinary and super have not changed.
An informed source told North-Press that the reason is due to the limited quantity of premium gasoline, so they limited the sale of this material to a single fuel station belonging to the Autonomous Administration, lest owners of private gas stations be financially harmed.