By Julia Payne
LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Turkey's imports of Iranian crude oil have been holding steady at around 100,000 barrels per day from September to December, data from a shipping source and Reuters AIS Live showed.
Turkey's sole refiner Tupras
November saw two cargoes go to Tutunciftlik and one to Aliaga, while October had three cargoes delivered to Tutunciftlik. Turkish official trade data pegged October imports lower at around 75,000 bpd.
The volume is nearly half of its 2011 pre-sanction average of around 180,000 bpd. Turkey sharply increased its Iranian oil buys after sanctions were initially announced before reducing them in the months up to July to secure a sanctions waiver from the United States. Imports peaked at around 250,000-280,000 bpd in early 2012.
Western nations have imposed a raft of sanctions on Iran aimed at hampering the country's finances to prevent it from developing an atomic bomb, while Tehran says its nuclear activities are peaceful.
Turkey was granted an initial waiver on Iranian oil by the United States for 180 days from June 11 after Ankara made an initial 20 percent import cut before sanctions came into effect. The exemption was renewed in early December for another 180 days.
Most of the crude oil delivered in November and December arrived directly from Iran via the Suez Canal using various Iranian National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) tankers, mainly flagged in Tanzania.
In earlier months, the crude was only lifted from the Egyptian port of Sidi Kerir, the end of the Sumed pipeline linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Iran's Blossom tanker, also known as Baikal, would go back and forth between Egypt and Turkey.
The European Union oil embargo, which came into full force on July 1, also targeted the region's marine insurance sector, which effectively cut off the usual avenues for tanker insurance for Iran's remaining buyers, mainly South Korea, Japan, China, India and Turkey.
State owned Tupras' imports initially sank in July when the country was unable to insure its own tankers to lift Iranian crude. The country had to switch to Iranian-owned oil tankers, which raises questions over safety.
Turkey has been lifting Iraqi, Kazakh, Russian and Saudi crude to replace the missing Iranian oil.
Imports are steady for now but fresh U.S. sanctions could further complicate Iran's oil exports as a provision due to come into effect on Feb. 6 will make it difficult for buyers to pay Iran.
Iranian oil lifters have been using elaborate mechanisms through various countries and banks to pay Iran's national oil company. But from February, any bank that repatriates the money or transfers it to a third country will risk breaching sanctions.
The new provision will hit India and Japan, particularly, while South Korea and China already have mounting debts to Iran. As the flow of petrodollars slows, barter could become the main payment method.
(Editing by Keiron Henderson)
((julia.payne@thomsonreuters.com)(+44 207 542 1836)(Reuters Messaging: julia.payne.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: TURKEY IRAN/
