Oil exports to Iran drop by 50%

Report: Sanctions having an effect, Tehran mostly imports from Turkey, China

Yitzhak Benhorin|Published: 08.03.10 , 18:36

WASHINGTON - Sanctions having an effect: Oil exports to Iran have drooped sharply after the United States and European Union imposed tougher sanctions on Tehran, a new report says.

The report, published by the UK-based Energy Market Consultants Ltd, points to a drastic 50% decline in the exportation of refined oil to Iran. In July, the Islamic republic imported only 60,000 oil barrels a day, compared to 120,000 barrels in June.

In an interview with the Bloomberg network, Vijay Mukherji, a London-based research associate with EMC, said International companies have pulled back from Iran.

"The US, Europe and the UN are aiming to cut Iran off. They just don’t want them to get any oil-product supplies,” he said.

According to Mukherji, fuel shipments to Iran are now dominated by Turkish and Chinese companies. Notably, EMC's figures are based on information relayed by oil exporters, Iranian officials and information available to the public. The company specializes in international energy trade with a special focus on the Middle East and its data serves the US Department of Energy.

Western sanctions

While the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council last June do not include gas and fuel restrictions, they prompted the US and EU to tighten their own sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

US President Barack Obama endorsed a bill last month that penalizes oil suppliers to Iran and blocks their access to the American financial system. The EU, whose 27 members are engaged in extensive trade with Iran, implemented similar measures.

The US and EU have also banned loans for Iranian bodies and have imposed harsh limitations on naval transportation to the Islamic Republic. Only three oil tankers from Turkey and China have roughly a dozen tankers that arrived in Iran at this time of the year in the past.