Asia’s imports of Iran crude to regain levels prior to EU ban

Men fish last month near an oil refinery in Kawasaki, near Tokyo. Japan is among the Asian countries that have worked around the EU embargo on Iranian crude oil, suggesting imports will at least stay at the same levels for the rest of the year. (Reuters)

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By Reuters
Singapore

Asia’s crude imports from Iran are set to recover in September to levels reached before a July 1 insurance ban by the European Union plunged trade with the Islamic Republic into uncertainty not seen in decades.

Top Asian buyers -- China, India, Japan and South Korea together take more than half of Iran’s crude oil exports -- have worked around the European Union embargo, suggesting imports will stay at least around these levels for the rest of the year.

Refiners want to continue using the Iranian crude many of their plants are configured to process, as changes will need lengthy testing of new grades or cause an alteration in output.

“Iran was part of the staple diet,” said Sushant Gupta of energy consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie.

“The refiners would want to keep their crude slate intact if they can as long as the economics works. We do see a recovery in Iranian crude imports into Asia in the fourth quarter.”


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