Turkey’s top refiner, Tupras, is in talks with US officials to obtain a waiver allowing it to keep buying Iranian oil after Washington reinstates sanctions on Iran’s energy sector in November, industry sources said.
The US is preparing to impose the new sanctions on Iran’s oil industry after Washington withdrew from a nuclear deal between Tehran and other global powers earlier this year, but is also considering offering waivers to some allies that rely on Iranian supplies, Reuters reported.
NATO member Turkey depends heavily on imports to meet its energy needs and neighboring Iran has been one of its main sources of oil because of its proximity, the quality of its crude, and favorable price differentials.
Turkey has already made efforts to cut its purchases ahead of the US sanctions, but would prefer to keep up some level of Iranian oil imports past November, an industry source familiar with the matter said.
“They would like to be able to continue importing 3-4 cargoes a month, like they did during the previous sanctions round. But if the US would tell them to stop, they will oblige and work towards achieving that,” the source said.
A Tupras spokesperson was not available for comment. Turkey’s Energy Ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Turkey imported around 97,000 barrels per day of Iranian oil in August and 133,000 bpd in September, compared with just over 240,000 bpd in April, tanker tracking and shipping data showed.
And in the first two weeks of October, Turkey has purchased three 1 million barrel-cargoes of Iranian oil - a level that would equate to about 97,000 bpd if it made no other purchases this month.
Add new comment
Read our comment policy before posting your viewpoints