S Korea, China Raise Iran Crude Imports

South Korea’s imports of Iranian crude surged 20 percent in 2011, data showed on Wednesday, the latest indication of Korea’s dependence on oil despite pressure from its ally the United States to cut back.
The rise in Iranian crude imports was over three times more than the increase in Korea’s overall oil purchases in 2011 and some refineries have indicated they will buy more, not less, from the OPEC producer this year, Reuters reported.
South Korea, the world’s fifth-largest crude importer, is under pressure to reduce its imports due to US sanctions.
Crude imports from Iran rose to 238,860 barrels per day (bpd) in 2011 from 198,918 bpd in 2010, the state-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) said on Wednesday.
Of South Korea’s four crude oil refiners, SK Energy and Hyundai Oilbank import Iranian crude oil. The two refiners struck annual deals to buy a total of 200,000 bpd of Iranian crude this year, up from around 190,000 bpd in 2011, government sources and company officials said.
Most Iranian crude is sold under long term deals, although some cargoes can be bought in the spot market.
Still, South Korean oil buyers are scoping out alternative supplies in case the US sanctions make it impossible to keep importing Iranian crude.
“We also expect higher US crude output this year, meaning less US crude imports from the Middle East and more crude availability to other countries,” said Brandon Lee, senior energy analyst for oil, gas and petrochemicals at Macquarie Securities Korea.
Iran warned Persian Gulf oil producers not to compensate for any disruption to Iranian output.

Moscow Backs Nuclear Talks In Turkey

Russia wants a quick renewal of talks between the international community and Iran on the country’s nuclear program and supports holding the meetings in Turkey, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
“Both Moscow and Ankara are for an early renewal of talks on Iran’s nuclear program,” Lavrov said during a visit by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, according to the Interfax news agency.
“Turkey is actively working to resolve organizational issues (for the meetings),” added Davutoglu. “We want the talks to begin as soon as possible.”
The nations who would send representatives to meet Iran’s delegation would be the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council--the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain--and Germany.
Davutoglu on Thursday called on the six-nation group and Iran to resume long-stalled talks and suggested the next round of negotiations might take place in Turkey.
EU foreign ministers on Monday announced plans for an embargo on Iranian oil imports to put pressure on Tehran to halt its civilian nuclear drive.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said during a visit to Turkey Wednesday that the next round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program will ‘most probably’ take place in Istanbul.
“I am not sure, but most probably it will be in Istanbul,” Ali Akbar Salehi said, a year after the last round of talks collapsed.

Majlis to Ban Oil Sale to Europe

The Majlis is drafting a bill to ban the sale of oil to Europe, spokesman of the Majlis Energy Commission told Mehr News Agency.
Seyyed Emad Husseini predicted that the bill will be debated in the Majlis on Sunday, January 29.
He said once the Majlis passes the bill, the government will be barred from selling oil to Europe before the EU oil embargo against Iran takes effect.

Saudi Arabia Unable to Offset Iran Oil

The EU-engineered embargo on Iran’s crude oil is a “media hype” as the Saudi Arabia cannot offset the loss of Iranian oil in the market, a member of Iran’s Parliament (Majlis) said.
“The country [Saudi Arabia] cannot change the amount of its oil output in short-term. By the way, since Riyadh is [one of] the OPEC [the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries] member states, it must follow its policies,” Hassan Shabanpour said.
Foreign ministers of the European Union imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran’s oil exports over the country’s peaceful nuclear program during their Monday meeting in Brussels, Presstv reported.
The sanctions involve an immediate ban on all new oil contracts with Iran and a freeze on the assets of the country’s Central Bank within the EU.
This comes while earlier this month Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi said the kingdom is capable of increasing its oil output after the EU agreed on imposing an embargo on Iran’s oil.
Shabanpour warned that if any problem disrupts the process of Iran’s oil export, “all the regional states will be entangled” as they will not be able to export their oil in a “calm and secure atmosphere”.
Referring to the EU’s decision on stopping the crude oil import from Iran in a six-month period, the lawmaker said, “This shows that they [the EU] are seeking to carry out a psychological operation against Iran, otherwise they would have brought the sanction into force so far.”

Prof. Qavamzadeh Wins CIBMTR Award

Iranian scientist Professor Ardeshir Qavamzadeh has won the 2012 award of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR).

By Mohammad Reza Erfanian

EU’s Self-Embargo

The European Union has approved an oil embargo against Iran based on which EU member states will stop importing Iranian oil six months from now.
The fact that the EU decision is to take effect after six months is a clear indication that the West is terribly afraid of imposing sanctions against Iran’s oil.
If the EU believed Iranian oil embargo is practical, it would implement it right now.
The delayed decision proves that Brussels seeks to benefit from a psycho war against Iran and that it is well aware of the negative backlashes of the embargo on the European and world economy.
Under the current situation there are numerous buyers in the oil market, and given the stands of world countries which have condemned the sanctions, one can easily come to the conclusion that if Iran is not a winner in the sanctions scenario, it will certainly not be a loser, either.
Experts believe that once Iran’s oil embargo takes effect, there will be a surge in oil prices and Iran will definitely be one of the parties that will benefit from the rising prices.
In fact, it is only Western countries that will be losers due to the oil price hike.
According to international laws, Iran is entitled to peaceful use of nuclear energy and the West and EU had better acknowledge this and abide by international laws.
Hence, one can argue that the EU has imposed an oil embargo on itself, whereas Iran, given its high political and economic potentials, can easily surpass this stage.

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