BAGHDAD, 11 December 2003 — Iraq imposed gasoline rationing yesterday as it stepped up efforts to cope with a shortage of fuel in this country with the world’s second-largest oil reserves, the Oil Ministry said.

“Each driver can have only 50 liters, not more, at the price of 20 dinars (one cent) each liter,” Asem Jihad, the spokesman for Iraq’s Oil Ministry, said.

In the northern capital of Mosul, however, drivers were being limited to half that amount, said an AFP correspondent there.

Jihad said gas station operators who sell to the black market will face lengthy jail terms under a new law effective yesterday.

Motorists say the gas station queues, some as long as three kilometers, have become increasingly common since the holy month of Ramadan ended in late November.

Jihad said that because of the oil shortage, interim Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr Al-Ulum has cancelled a trip to Cairo where he was to meet with Arab oil ministers.

Jihad said on Sunday his country was suffering only a temporary shortage of oil and not a crisis.

Beginning yesterday, gas station operators who sell to the black market can be jailed for between three and 10 years, he said.

In another measure, an agreement between the oil and electricity ministries will ensure day and night power for pumps at 24 Baghdad gas stations, Jihad said.

The capital is subject to rotating power blackouts.

In a statement received yesterday, the Oil Ministry said it had formed a joint task force with the US-led coalition to study why motorists face lengthy queues at the gas pumps in this country awash with oil.

The task force will “examine the supply challenges, black market activities and public perception issues that are causing fuel lines around the country,” the statement said.

Among the remedies to be considered by the task force is the possible use of US military vehicles to supplement Iraq’s tanker fleet, the statement said.

The task force will look at keeping gas stations open longer, issuing licenses for new gas stations and improving security for the distribution network.

It will also look at expanding commercial relationships with Iraq’s neighbors and accelerating reconstruction of the dilapidated fuel infrastructure, the statement said.

The task force announcement comes three days after a coalition civilian spokesman said the petrol problem would be resolved soon, following the arrival on Sunday of more than four million liters of fuel from Turkey.

That fuel came from crude Iraqi oil sent across the border for refining because Iraq’s old and sabotaged refineries can not meet the domestic demand, said the spokesman, who did not want to be named.

Jihad said Iraq has also signed a contract with Iran for millions of liters and expects to sign a contract with Kuwait. Officials also plan to visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar to explore the possibility of buying from those countries, he said.

“It is a travesty that the Iraqi people do not have access to the fuel they need for their expanding economic activities,” Ulum said. “This is a complex problem but we will beat it.”