ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Scores of lawmakers have signed a petition calling on the Iraqi government to increase Kurdistan Region’s share of crude oil or compensate the Region with benzine to address the worsening petrol crisis.

Benzine prices in the Kurdistan Region have spiked to unprecedented levels in recent weeks, despite the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) introducing pricing caps in July.

Shortages caused by the renewed regional conflict and higher costs of materials needed to produce higher qualities of fuel have resulted in reduced supply at gas stations and higher prices across the Kurdistan Region provinces.

Sipan Sherwani, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) member of the Iraqi parliament, on Tuesday announced that a total of 166 lawmakers have signed on a petition he initiated calling on Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s government to either increase the Kurdistan Region’s share of crude oil allocated for domestic consumption from 50,000 to 140,000 barrels per day, or compensating the Region with “gasoline equivalent to the required increase in its crude oil quota.”

In late July, the KRG called on the Iraqi federal government to increase the Kurdistan Region’s allocated share of crude oil from the currently allotted 50,000 barrels, to 126,700 barrels, in accordance with the Region’s population, which makes up 12.67 percent of Iraq’s total population.

“The quota allocated to the Kurdistan Region is disproportionate to its population percentage and actual needs… This disproportionate quota has contributed to the ongoing gasoline crisis and its resulting repercussions affecting the lives and daily interests of citizens,” read the petition from Sherwani, addressed to the Iraqi premier.

“Therefore, we respectfully request that your esteemed government take the necessary measures urgently to address the gasoline crisis in the Kurdistan Region and work to increase the Region's share of crude oil allocated for domestic consumption, or compensate it with gasoline equivalent to the required increase,” it added.

The Kurdistan Region’s gas stations offer three types of benzine of different quality to vehicles: “Normal,” which is the base quality, as well as “Improved” and “Super,” which have higher octane rates. Additionally, some government-affiliated stations offer subsidized “Normal” fuel at lower prices.

In a meeting with representatives from the natural resources ministry and other relevant authorities in late July, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called for resolving the issue “as soon as possible, in a way that takes into account the interests of the citizens of the Kurdistan Region.”

The Kurdish premier also directed exerting efforts to “prevent monopolies in the fuel sector, especially gasoline.”