Turkey Says Cannot Swiftly Abandon Iranian Oil

Turkey will be unable to diversify oil imports quickly after the United States ended waivers on purchases from Iran, the Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday, a day after a US-imposed sanctions deadline passed.  
Turkey’s statement follows comments by China, which said last month it opposed “long-armed jurisdictions implemented by the United States” and would continue “rational and legal” cooperation with Iran, Reuters said.
The US told buyers to stop oil purchases by May 1 or face sanctions. 
Turkey and China are the only two countries so far to have expressed a desire to continue large purchases of Iranian crude. 
Turkey has reduced its heavy reliance on Iranian crude in the past year, but Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said its refineries were not suited to handling oil from some other countries. 
“It does not seem possible for us to diversify the sources of the oil we import in a short time,” he told a news conference, adding that Washington should review its decision. 
“We have to renew the technology of our refineries when we buy oil from third countries. That would mean the refineries remaining shut for some time. This, of course, has a cost.” 
The White House has put pressure on its strategic ally and top global oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates to export more oil to meet potential shortages arising from Iranian sanctions. 
India said on Thursday it was ready to deal with the impact of US sanctions against Iran and would get extra supplies from other oil producers. 
Turkish imports from Iran have dropped gradually since May 2018, when the US first mentioned possible sanctions. 
Turkey, which is almost completely reliant on imports to meet its energy needs, imported 912,000 tons of oil per month on average from Iran until May 2018, making up 47% of its total oil requirements.