Fuel shortages deepen in Iraq's Wasit and Nineveh as drivers face long queues

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Fuel shortages in Iraq's Wasit and Nineveh provinces are disrupting daily life and economic activity, with drivers forming long lines at filling stations. In Kut, the provincial capital of Wasit, a lack of diesel and disruptions to gasoline distribution have made it harder for trucks, taxis and city transport to operate. Residents have asked the governorate and the state-run Petroleum Products Distribution Company to increase Wasit's fuel quota and to put permanent measures in place instead of temporary fixes. In Mosul, the capital of Nineveh, queues at central stations including Yarmouk, Cultural Group, Arab and Mamun stretched for several kilometers. Station officials said gasoline stocks were sufficient, but hundreds of vehicles arrive in the city each day from the Kurdistan Region, where prices are lower, pushing demand beyond local supply capacity. The Nineveh Directorate of Petroleum Products has moved to discipline distribution by requiring vehicle owners to refuel only with their own cards, canceling misuse of others' cards for six months and setting a one-dinar-per-liter service charge for outside vehicles at the Harun station. Provincial council member Subhan Jaghan called for raising private stations' daily quota to 36,000 liters, while MP Sima Habouri urged a quota redistribution based on population. MP Shirvan Dubirdanani said oversight of smuggling was weak and called for activating cameras at security checkpoints.