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Japan resumes oil imports from Iran

Japan resumes oil imports from Iran

Mubasher: Japanese refiners have loaded Iranian crude onto carriers, resuming imports from Tehran after ceasing purchases due to the US sanctions.

“After China, South Korea, India and Turkey, Japan also started the process of importing Iranian oil,” Iran’s state news agency IRNA, quoting central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati.

Japanese refiner Fuji Oil lifted a cargo of Iranian crude over the weekend, a company spokesman told Thomson Reuters.

The crude carrier Kisogawa loaded around 2 million barrels of Iranian oil on Sunday and it is set to reach Japan on9 February, the Fuji spokesman said.

“It took a while for us to resume imports of Iranian oil,” he added, noting that the major obstacle was getting the banks to agree to handle payments to Iran.

Japan is the latest of the four largest Iranian oil customers in Asia to continue their purchases after being granted waivers from US sanctions on crude shipments from Tehran that took effect in November 2018.

China and India resumed their imports after November, while South Korea ceased its purchases for four months, resuming them just over the weekend.

It is worth noting that Iranian oil represented 5.3% of Japan’s total crude imports in 2017.

Iran’s exports dropped sharply since US President Donald Trump withdrew last May from a pact limiting Tehran’s nuclear programme, reinstating the sanctions.

However, the US granted waivers to Iran’s largest oil importers, allowing them to import oil for another 180 days.