"Sanctions That Benefit Obama's BFF Turkey" - Iran Bypassing Sanctions on its Oil, Aided by Asian Customers and the Obama Admin.(
JP).By Jacob Edelist.Iran is involved in hectic attempts to lower the insurance costs for its oil shipments, and, apparently these attempts are working.
Iran Insurance Company (IIC) Chairman Javad Sahamian has told Tehran Times that Iran will provide insurance coverage for any oil tanker carrying Iranian crude oil. “After the sanctions, Iran extends insurance coverage for every oil tanker loading in Iranian ports,” Sahamian said.
Seyyed Ataollah Sadr, managing director of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization, said last July that Iran would give insurance to “any foreign ship that enters Iran’s waters” but did not elaborate on how the scheme would work in practice.
The consortium providing the insurance to these rogue shipments includes domestic insurance firm Kish P and I, itself underwritten by Central Insurance of Iran, and Razi Insurance Company, which in August was reported by the Fars News Agency (FNA) as “ready to join the consortium of domestic companies in this field.”
According to various sources, Kish, which is the Iranian national insurance company, has already begun to independently insures all vessels leaving Iranian ports, replacing insurance service by European companies, which was stopped on July 1, when the European Union sanctions on the Iranian oil industry went into effect.
Now, as a result of self-insuring, the premium for transporting oil to Japan dropped from $3.17 a barrel in July to $2.00 in August.
In addition, carriers belonging to the National Iranian Tanker Company, (NITC), began independently transporting oil to countries in the Far East in order to help them avoid the sanctions. The NITC frequently uses small, private Iranian shipping companies flying foreign flags. Coverage provided by the Kish Company for the fleet of tankers has amounted to $1 billion.
Turkey’s imports of Iranian crude oil have jumped in August, ignoring possible friction with the U.S., after hitting a multi-year low in July, using Iranian-owned tankers.
Kish uses a secondary guarantor, the Central Bank of Iran.
The U.S. and European countries are aware of the latest developments, and have begun to demand penalties for Asian countries attempting to avoid the sanctions.
Many analysts predict, however, that the U.S. is not planning to enforce the sanctions with real, tough measures against countries like Japan or China.
The U.S. has also given several countries sanction waivers after they cut imports prior to the imposition of the full embargo.
Turkey was granted a 180-day exception from sanctions from June 11 as a result of an initial 20 percent cut in July, according to Tehran Times. (
See Post below).With the elections approaching, the last thing President Obama wants is to get into complications with those two countries, or with South Korea. Analysts add that the U.S. economy is benefiting from the Asian markets’ clandestine oil imports from Iran.
But all hope is not lost – it turns out Iran’s biggest enemy is its own inefficiency. A research study conducted by Reuters last Week revealed China’s lack of satisfaction with the timing of the Iranian oil deliveries, which used to take 48 hours and now takes up to 10 days.
But the Kish insurance policies do not cover instances of late delivery; and an unhappy China is pressuring Iran to improve service or improve the compensation system.
Hmmmm...... Turkey’s imports of Iranian crude oil have jumped in August, ignoring possible friction with the U.S., after hitting a multi-year low in July, using Iranian-owned tankers. Read the full story
here.
Related:
As
expected Obama will give BFF Turkey a waiver from sanctions, they 'only' import
45 percent of their oil from Iran and aid Iran avoiding sanctions.
Obama administration officials didn't say how much the seven countries had cut
their oil purchases.
In March, U.S. officials
signaled that they were seeking reductions of 15% to 22% of
purchases.
Several large countries, including India and
Turkey, said publicly that they were reluctant to reduce imports of Iranian oil
because of their long reliance on the Islamic regime.
They appear to have met the minimum level of cooperation
that Washington demanded, however.
How Much did Turkey actually 'reduce' it's
inports??
Answer:
Before May,
Turkey was the only buyer in Europe to increase purchases from Iran, while other
European refiners cut back on imports of the crude ahead of an impending EU oil
embargo due to take effect from July 1.
In the
first four months of 2012, Turkey imported 210,000 barrels per day of Iranian
oil on average, including a huge 270,000 bpd in March, much higher than its 2011
average of 185,000 bpd.
In May Turkey's state-controlled
refining company, Tupras, imported around 140,000 barrels per day (bpd), a 20
percent drop from its 2011 average, according to the latest shipping data,
obtained by Reuters.
Port data showed
152,000 tonnes of Iranian crude was delivered to the port of Aliaga in May,
while 443,000 tonnes of Iranian crude was delivered to its second import
terminal, Tutunciflik. Tupras is expected to import the same
volume in June.
From July 1, Turkey will remain effectively the sole
buyer of Iranian crude in Europe. Official trade data showed
that
in the first four months of this year,
Iran accounted for about 58 percent of Turkey's near 6 million tonnes in total
crude imports.
THIS
REDUCTION IS A PURE SMOKESCREEN APPROVED BY THE OBAMA ADMIN!
