Asian buyers seek waiver

Turkey’s Oct Iran imports fall

SEOUL/NEW DELHI, Nov 30, (RTRS): Asia’s top buyers of Iranian crude are likely to secure US approval to continue imports from the Islamic Republic without incurring sanctions, after cutting volumes sharply in the second half of the year, according to government and trade sources.

Government officials in India and South Korea said they expect waivers from US sanctions on Iran, secured in the middle of the year, to be rolled over for another six months. In China, the top buyer of Iranian crude and the Islamic Republic’s largest trade partner, traders said the main state-run oil importers expect a further exemption.

The United States is due to decide early in December whether to extend the waivers, which it granted on condition that countries cut their crude imports from Iran. A renewal means banks in the three countries get another reprieve from the threat of being cut off from the U.S. financial system.

The sanctions aim to choke Iran’s oil trade, the main source of the country’s hard currency, and to force the government to curb its nuclear programme. The West says Iran is using the programme to develop nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies.

Tough US and European sanctions have more than halved OPEC member Iran’s oil exports, and most of what is left flows to Asia. Exports fell to 1.3 million barrels per day in October and around 1 million bpd in the two previous months.

“We are expecting a very positive result as our imports in the second half of this year were very low,” a South Korean economy ministry source who has direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters by phone.

“The announcement will be made around Dec 7 on the US state department website as the starting date of the new extension is Dec 8. We already have completed talks with the United States,” the source said.

South Korea’s imports from Iran during the first 10 months of the year stood at 44.55 million barrels, down 40 percent on the year, according to state-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC).

“We will definitely get the waiver renewed. We have substantially cut imports from Iran in the six months, so I don’t see any problem,” said an Indian government source privy to the country’s talks with the United States.

From April, the starting month for annual term contracts, India’s imports from Tehran are down 19 percent to about 257,000 bpd to endSeptember, tanker discharge data shows.

A State Department spokesman said that decisions on extending the exemptions would not be made until early December.

South Korea and India got their initial waivers on June 11, followed by China on June 28. All are due for renewal in December. Japan, the other big Asian buyer of Iranian oil, had its waiver renewed in September.

In China, traders familiar with the government’s thinking said there was an expectation its exemption would be extended because of the extent of cuts in imports. The average monthly decline in Iranian crude imports from a year earlier was more than 20 percent between July and October, according to customs data.

Also: DUBAI: Turkey’s crude oil imports from Iran fell more than 30 percent to 75,281 barrels per day (bpd) in October from September, as substitute oil from other suppliers including Iraq and Saudi Arabia rose more, official trade data showed on Friday.

Iraq was Turkey’s biggest crude supplier in October with 105,000 bpd while Russia came second with 103,248 bpd. Imports from the Islamic Republic which was once supplying more than 60 percent of Turkey’s crude requirement came third.

Turkey was granted a waiver on Iranian oil by the United States for 180 days from June 11 after Ankara made an initial 20 percent import cut before sanctions came into effect.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said in October that Turkey expected the exemption to continue after December.