PHOTO
Washington had been pushing governments to cut imports ofIranian oil to zero. But, fearing a price spike, it grantedIran's biggest buyers - China, India, South Korea, Japan, Italy,Greece, Taiwan and Turkey - sanctions waivers.
That will allow the eight, which account for about 75percent of all Iran's oil exports, according to trade data, toimport at least some oil for another 180 days.
Washington and the recipients of the waivers have notdisclosed how much oil they are allowed to import, or under whatconditions deals can still be made.
Analysts have estimated the overall volumes allowed underthe waivers at between 700,000 and 1.7 million barrels per day(bpd) compared with a peak of around 3 million bpd in Iraniancrude and condensate exports in mid-2018.
J.P. Morgan said "the lack or difficulty in acquiringshipping insurance will help in reducing exports quickly as theydid during last international sanctions."
The U.S. bank also said "payments for the oil by the exemptcountries must go into escrow accounts in their local currency"and that this "means the money won't directly go to Iran and itcan only be used to buy certain non-sanctioned goods from itscrude export customers."
Once the waivers expire after 180 days, new waivers areexpected to be issued, with a source in China saying his countrywould likely receive another six months of exemptions, though ata lower rate of around 220,000 bpd.
For further details, see below.
CHINA
China, the world's biggest importer of crude oil, is alsothe top buyer of Iranian oil, and its mostly state-ownedrefiners have lobbied hard for waivers.
Several Chinese sources with knowledge of the matter saidChina would be allowed to buy 360,000 bpd of Iranian crudeduring the exemption period of 180 days.
That would be about half the daily average China has beenimporting from Iran since January 2016, trade data showed.
However, one source said the United States had attachedstrings to the waivers, including counterparty disclosures andlaying open settlement methods, which were being evaluatedbefore placing new orders with Iran.
INDIA
India has become the world's third-biggest oil importer,recently overtaking Japan.
India is also Iran's second-biggest oil customer and will beone of the most exposed to a forced drop in supply because ofits relative proximity to Iran.
One Indian source close to the country's refining sectorsaid India would likely be allowed to import around 300,000 bpdof Iranian crude during the exemption period compared withnormal volumes of around 450,000 to 550,000 bpd.
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea is a large buyer of Iranian condensate, a superlight form of crude oil, used by its large petrochemicalindustry.
A close U.S. ally, South Korea had stopped buying crude fromIran ahead of the sanctions while still lobbying for exemptions.
This week, reports emerged that South Korea received awaiver allowing it to import around 4 million barrels a month,equal to about 130,000 bpd, of Iranian crude and condensate.
South Korea has averaged over 200,000 bpd of oil importsfrom Iran so far this year, down from around 350,000 bpd in2017.
Banking sources said any Korean payments for Iranian oilwould need to be made in its won currency
The won-denominated payments will go into escrow accountshandled by the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK)
Officials from both banks said, however, thatwon-denominated payments for Iranian oil were still beingreviewed, and that no schedule a for resumption was set yet.
JAPAN , another key Asian U.S. ally, also ceased Iranian oilimports prior to the sanctions, but has received a waiver toimport an undisclosed amount of oil from Iran in the next 180days.
Japan's trade minister, Hiroshige Seko, said on Tuesday thatJapanese buyers were expected to resume imports from the IslamicRepublic again soon.
Refining sources in Japan, however, said they first neededto evaluated the conditions attached to the waivers, with no neworders likely before December.
TAIWAN
Taiwan is only an occasional importer of Iranian oil, and nodetails regarding its waivers have been disclosed.
TURKEY, ITALY, GREECE
Italy and Turkey have been importing around 200,000 bpd ofoil from Iran over the past two years, with Greece importingless than 100,000 bpd.
Italy and Greece have completely suspended purchases inrecent weeks. The waivers for those countries took the market bysurprise and trading sources have said they are now evaluatingprospects for resuming some imports.
Turkey has said it is also evaluating possible imports afterreceiving a waiver, but President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesdaythe country would not abide by the sanctions as they were aimedat "unbalancing the world".
(Compiled by Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE, Dmitry Zhdannikovin LONDON and Yena Park in SEOUL; Editing by Mark Potter andChristian Schmollinger) ((Dmitri.Zhdannikov@thomsonreuters.com;))
