Jim Landers of The Dallas Morning News has a column on the bizarre situation concerning gas in Iraq and Iran.  Although both countries as located on oil fields, the ability to get gas to consumers in their own country has proven difficult due to the practice of subsidizing fuel prices.

How a country rich in oil gets into this predicament, however, is an intriguing story that tells of progress in Iraq – and resulting turmoil in Iran.

Iraq, Iran and the other oil-rich countries of the Middle East love high oil prices when someone else is paying. But for their own people, cheap, subsidized gasoline has been a way for these governments to buy popularity.

All these subsidizes, importation, and lack of regulation and oversight has lead to the creation of a black market in gasoline between the two countries.

Iran now has its own black market entrepreneurs selling Iranian gasoline to motorists in Iraq. When you can get $1.22 a gallon in Iraq, but only 40 cents a gallon in Iran, where would you rather sell?

An estimated $4 Billion worth of gas was smuggled out of Iraq in 2005.