Iran could ban EU oil exports next week

Iran could ban EU oil exports next week
Al-Akhbar – 27 January, 2012

A law to be debated in Iran’s parliament on Sunday could halt exports of oil to the European Union as early as next week, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted a lawmaker as saying on Friday.

“On Sunday, parliament will have to approve a ‘double emergency’ bill calling for a halt in the export of Iranian oil to Europe starting next week,” Hossein Ibrahimi, vice-chairman of parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, was quoted as saying.

Parliament is pushing for the export ban to deny the EU a six-month phase-in of the embargo on Iranian oil that the bloc agreed on Monday as part of a raft of tough new Western sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to curb its nuclear program.

The EU accounted for 18 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the first half of 2011, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), making it Iran’s second biggest customer after China.

But Iran says there’s enough demand for its oil to offset the EU ban, with Tehran’s top three clients all Asian countries.

China and India have shown no intention as yet to cut back its oil imports from Iran, while Japan and South Korea are seeking US waivers. …more