Iran Set to Receive Gasoline Cargo from Turkey

DUBAI, May 26 (Reuters) – Iran is expected to receive its first shipment of gasoline from Turkey in at least 18 months in June, industry sources said on Tuesday.

The deal followed an agreement concluded last week between Turkey and Brazil with Tehran over a nuclear fuel swap designed to quell international fears over the Islamic Republic’s atomic ambitions and avert fresh sanctions.

The gasoline shipment arriving from Turkey is set to discharge in Iran by mid-June, two industry sources said.

“So far we have not seen gasoline arriving from Turkey, but this is probably a new alternative source because of the problems with sanctions,” an industry source familiar with Iranian fuel shipments said.

The cargo was likely being shipped into Iran via a third-party trader, a second source said.

SANCTIONS

Iran, which is the second-largest OPEC producer, relies on the international market to secure 40 percent of its domestic gasoline requirements because it lacks the refining capacity to produce its own.

The threat of U.S. sanctions on fuel suppliers to Iran has reduced the pool of firms prepared to sell gasoline to the OPEC member.

“Turkey’s decision to ship gasoline to Iran at the same time that many of America’s allies are ending this trade could put Ankara in the cross-hairs of a Congress determined to enforce energy sanctions against Iran,” said Mark Dubowitz executive director of a Washington-based think-tank.

But despite international oil companies ceasing new business with Iran, it continues to find new supply sources to meet its demand for the motor fuel.

“The harder you squeeze them the more resourceful they will become. Today it is Turkey — who knows where we will see gasoline from next?,” a trader said.

Tupras (TUPRS.IS), Turkey’s only oil refiner, would not confirm whether it was shipping the gasoline cargo to Iran.

Asked whether such a shipment was underway, a spokesman said: “Work on this continues.”

Turkey last year exported 1.63 million tonnes of gasoline.

China’s Sinopec Corp 00386.HK (600028.SS) (SNP.N) resumed gasoline sales to Iran in April following a hiatus of nearly six years. Its trading unit Unipec has been bringing in the gasoline parcels from as far out as Singapore, traders said.