Gasoline is becoming less important as more and more CNG-powered cars are being sold every day. The government has put an emphasis on promoting CNG. The main impediment for drivers has been the slow progress in building service stations to market CNG.
Ali Farahani, the planning director at the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Co., said there are now 1,880 CNG stations across Iran, a number he said was exceeded only in Pakistan, China and Argentina. He said that number would rise to 2,500 by next Now Ruz, giving Iran the second largest number of CNG stations after Pakistan.
He said 451 CNG stations were opened two years ago and 183 in the last Persian year, so the goal of opening more than 600 this year may prove challenging.
Farahani said that last year CNG provided 25 percent of fuel powering vehicles in Iran.