The chart below tracks exclusive data obtained by IraqSlogger's sources monitoring market rates for auto fuel in a number of Iraqi provinces, as compared to the official government price of 400 ID/Liter.

Although fuel prices are still widely divergent across Iraqi provinces, a clear nationwide trend can be observed in the data obtained by IraqSlogger in auto fuel prices over the months of August and September.

The data are plotted by province, according to the following key:

Each line represents an Iraqi province for which IraqSlogger obtained auto fuel prices data. While fuel is generally purchased in 20-liter allotments, IraqSlogger here presents the data by the price of a single liter of gasoline in Iraqi dinars.

Slogger's data show a general downward trend from the summer highs in auto fuel prices in provinces for which information was provided by Slogger sources.

However, in all but one of the sampled provinces, auto fuel prices still exceed the official 400 ID/L rate, set in July 2007. At the most recent price check on Saturday, September 29, auto fuel prices were still 200 percent higher than the official price in southern Qadisiya province, and exceeded the state price by between 30 and 100 percent in all other sampled provinces save Basra, where informal market prices equalized with state-set prices this week.

As Slogger readers are aware, the state-mandated price of fuel has been significantly lower than the market rate for fuel for months. Fuel is often unavailable at the state-mandated price, either due to general lack of supply, or the practice of diverting fuel to the black/informal market where prices are higher, creating an "artificial" shortage in fuel products. Slogger sources have reported in the past that fuel sales agents are often complicit in this practice, seeking higher prices in the unofficial markets, while militia groups are also deeply involved in the process of moving fuel through the black markets, to reap profits and finance armed activity.

Similar trends are observed in each province. Following each single line of across the chart reveals the summer's rise and recent drop in oil prices in a single province, while comparing the placement of lines to one another compares the trends in prices across provinces.

At current exchange rates, $1 = 1233 ID.

Watch this space: IraqSlogger will be publishing more fresh data on prices in Iraq throughout the week.

Click here to see the data presented in table format: aug_sept2007gasolineprices.htm