Mohammad-Sadeq Azimifar said Tuesday at the first National Conference on Preventing and Combating Oil Product Smuggling that Iran’s energy consumption intensity is extremely high. He noted that data-driven governance and digitalizing the supply and consumption chain are essential to fighting fuel smuggling.

“Iran’s energy intensity is nearly three times the global average, and a major part of that relates to smuggled oil products,” he said.

Azimifar said estimates show oil product smuggling has reached about 20 million liters per day, pushing the country toward becoming a fuel importer. “Fuel smuggling has now turned into an economic cancer,” he said, adding that the phenomenon has created extensive social and security consequences in border provinces — from school dropouts to the strengthening of terrorist groups.

Most Smuggling Occurs on the Consumption Side

Azimifar said meaningful action against smuggling requires a clear understanding of its roots. He said most fuel smuggling occurs at the consumption stage, where the lack of consumption patterns and effective monitoring has enabled the aggregation of smuggled fuel. He called for the adoption of modern tools and a serious push to digitalize the production, distribution and consumption chain of oil products.

He said joint efforts by Iran’s Law Enforcement Command and the refining and distribution company over the past year have yielded major results. By cross-checking data from the smart fuel system, highway cameras, freight-tracking platforms and police databases, authorities identified and revoked a large number of fraudulent freight documents and about 600,000 unauthorized fuel cards. That effort, he said, cut average daily diesel consumption by 4 million liters.

Azimifar said with strong coordination among law enforcement, the government and the judiciary, daily diesel consumption could be reduced by as much as 10 million liters — enough to shift Iran from a diesel importer to an exporter. Achieving that goal, he said, requires wider use of data-driven tools, automated processes and effective consumption monitoring.

He added that the current 4-million-liter reduction in daily diesel use represents an estimated annual savings of about $1 billion. He said that, in addition to these measures, the country’s diesel reserves for power plants are now twice as high as they were at this time last year — a significant achievement.