US confirms Iran sanctions waiver for Azerbaijan's gas pipeline to Turkey and Europe. The Southern Gas Corridor has received a waiver from US sanctions against Iran's energy customers, an expected win for the project, designed to transport 16 billion cubic meters per year of Caspian natural gas to Turkey and southern Europe while bypassing Russia, Platts reported.
The executive order pertaining to that pipeline was signed by US President Donald Trump on Monday.
BP had been seeking a sanctions waiver for its development of Azerbaijan's offshore Shah Deniz fields, the source of the Southern Gas Corridor's natural gas. Iran's NICO holds a 10% share in the second phase of Shah Deniz, potentially triggering US sanctions against Iran's petroleum investment.
US energy sector sanctions slated for November 4 will ban companies from the US financial system if they continue to do business with Iran. Countries that depend on Iranian oil imports are continuing to press the US government for waivers.
Trump's order did not bring the same clarity for BP's request for a sanctions waiver for its Rhum natural gas field in the North Sea, which shares ownership with the National Iranian Oil Company. BP's agreement last year to sell the field to Serica Energy was contingent on receiving a US exemption from Iran sanctions. The order did not appear to settle a big question the oil market watchers have had since Trump announced in May that he would reimpose Iran sanctions: Whether the ban on crude oil deals with Iran includes condensates?
The White House order said in a list of definitions that "petroleum products" included "miscellaneous products obtained from the processing of: crude oil (including lease condensate), natural gas, and other hydrocarbon compounds."
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