Paki Petrol Station

[jumpingjames69]

Got ya

[wildaxboxer]

[SLAPAPPY]

Well that stinks!

[kellyhound]

You can name it whatever you want there.

THE 70-MILE STRETCH of dusty highway connecting Kirkuk to Sulaymaniyah in Northern Iraq looks like any other road in the world—except for the 70-plus gas stations lining the shoulder. Some look more like a temple. Or have gold-plated pillars. Or brandish a snappy set of Kurdish flags.

In a country with 140 billion barrels of crude oil reserve, pretty much anyone can start a gas station. Some families own a bunch. The economics of the business push prices as low as $1.60 per gallon. And everyone along Sulaimani-Kirkuk Road is selling pretty much the same stuff.