TEHRAN – After receiving waiver over U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, the country’s biggest oil customers in Asia, namely China, India, Japan and South Korea have announced readiness for resuming oil imports from Iran.

According to Bloomberg, China, Iran’s biggest Asian oil importer, has said it will start shipping in Iranian crude again in November after it halted purchases in October.
China won a waiver from the U.S. to keep importing 360,000 barrels a day of Iranian crude oil for six months starting November.

Last week, India’s biggest state-owned crude oil refiner Indian Oil Corp Ltd also announced that they aim to lift full volumes under their 2018/19 annual contract with Iran.
“The company has a deal to buy 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) Iranian oil this fiscal year”, Reuters reported quoting a company official.

As reported, the Indian refiners are prepared to pay for Iran oil imports entirely in rupees through state-owned UCO Bank.

Reuters also reported that other Asian customers of Iranian oil, namely Japan and South Korea, are also looking to resume Iranian oil imports from January after receiving waivers from U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

The United States in November granted exemptions to eight countries, allowing them to import some Iranian crude for another 180 days. China, India, Japan and South Korea were among the top five buyers of Iranian crude and condensate before they stopped imports in the third quarter ahead of the sanctions.

EF/MA