Turkey sticks with Iran oil after Saudi talks
Turkey has no plans to cut its imports of Iranian oil, remaining a rare loyal
customer of Tehran despite rising pressure from international
sanctions and initial signals it may buy more Saudi oil, Turkish
and Saudi sources told Reuters.
The sources said Ankara's intentions became clear after a
high level delegation travelled to Riyadh over the weekend and
decided against requesting additional supplies from top oil
exporter Saudi Arabia, the only producer in the world that has
spare volumes to offer to replace Iranian barrels.
The development will help Iran avoid extra pain from reduced
sales of crude as the European seeks to ban Iranian oil
imports from July 1 and major Asian customers are signalling
they might cut purchases under pressure from Washington.
EU and U.S. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans
are already hitting oil production in the Islamic Republic and a
fall in its output and exports is likely to accelerate if more
customers walk away from its oil. This could squeeze the budget
and increase internal tensions ahead of parliamentary elections
next month.
A Saudi oil ministry official said Turkish energy officials
had not ask for additional oil when visiting Riyadh last week.
"Turkey did not ask for more oil, and has no plans to ban
imports from Iran," he said.
An Ankara-based energy official said: "Turkey will continue
to buy from Iran unless the United Nations supports/endorses the
EU and U.S. oil embargo".
A U.N. embargo against Iran now seems very unlikely after
Russia and China, the biggest buyer of Iranian crude, blocked
U.N. sanctions against Syria.
Turkey's long campaign for EU entry may now be less likely
to influence its stance - its relations with the bloc are at
their lowest point in years and negotiations on membership,
which began in 2005, are stalled with no immediate prospect of
resumption.
Turkey imports around 200,000 barrels per day of oil from
Iran, covering 30 percent of daily domestic consumption and
representing over 7 percent of Iranian oil exports, and had
renewed its annual purchase agreement for 2012.
(source: www.af.reuters.com)
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