Turkey sticks with Iran oil after Saudi talks

Turkey has no plans to cut its imports of Iranian oil, remaining a rare loyal customer of Tehran despite rising pressure from international sanctions and initial signals it may buy more Saudi oil, Turkish and Saudi sources told Reuters.

The sources said Ankara’s intentions became clear after a high level delegation travelled to Riyadh last week and decided against requesting additional supplies from top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, the only producer in the world that has spare volumes to offer to replace Iranian barrels.

This development will help Iran avoid extra pain from reduced sales of crude as the European Union seeks to ban Iranian oil imports from July 1 and major Asian customers are signaling they might cut purchases under pressure from Washington.

EU and U.S. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans are already hitting oil production in the Islamic Republic and a fall in its output and exports is likely to accelerate if more customers walk away from its oil. This could squeeze the budget and increase internal tensions ahead of parliamentary elections next month.

A Saudi oil ministry official said Turkish energy officials had not ask for additional oil when visiting Riyadh last week.

“Turkey did not ask for more oil, and has no plans to ban imports from Iran,” he said.

An Ankara-based energy official said: “Turkey will continue to buy from Iran unless the United Nations supports/endorses the EU and U.S. oil embargo.”

A U.N. embargo against Iran now seems very unlikely after Russia and China, the biggest buyer of Iranian crude, blocked U.N. sanctions against Syria.

Turkey’s long campaign for EU entry may now be less likely to influence its stance – its relations with the bloc are at their lowest point in years and negotiations on membership, which began in 2005, are stalled with no immediate prospect of resumption.

Turkey imports around 200,000 barrels per day of oil from Iran, covering 30 percent of daily domestic consumption and representing over 7 percent of Iranian oil exports, and had renewed its annual purchase agreement for 2012.