Iraqis queue for hours to fill up petrol in Mosul amid shortages
February 19, 2022, 4:05 am

Iraqis queue for hours to fill up petrol in Mosul amid shortages

Fuel station

The Arab News reported, citing the AFP, motorists in Iraq’s main northern city of Mosul queued for hours on Friday to fill up their cars with petrol, with authorities blaming shortages on smuggling to the nearby Kurdistan region.

AFP journalists reported that for the past week, long lines have formed at petrol stations in Mosul and the rest of Nineveh province.

Soldiers were deployed in some stations to contain any violence, as tempers flared among motorists over the petrol shortage.

Taxi driver Abdel Khaliq Al-Mousalli complained.“Our lives are made of waiting in line. It has become a routine."

Shortages are frequent in Nineveh, where petrol is subsidized by the federal government and sells at around 500 Iraqi dinars per liter (0.33 US cents).

Iraq-Baghdad-Traffic jam (File photo: Pixabay)

But in the neighboring Kurdish autonomous region, petrol costs twice as much.

Nineveh Gov. Nejm Al-Jibbouri said on Thursday that “information” suggested that the petrol shortage is due to “smuggling” toward Kurdistan.

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He told a local television network that he had instructed security forces to “tighten checks at checkpoints to prevent petrol from leaving the province.”

Ihsan Mussa Ghanem, deputy head of the Iraqi agency in charge of distributing petroleum products, said, Nineveh received more than 2 million liters of petrol a day, “the highest amount after Baghdad.” He added: “The price of oil in Kurdistan is 40 percent higher than in other provinces and that has put pressure on Nineveh, with many Kurdistan residents coming here to fill up."

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Iraq is the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The nearly 3.5 million barrels per day exported by the country account for more than 90 percent of its income.

Source: arabnews

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”