Turkey has been granted a waiver of around 25 percent on US oil sanctions against Iran, a Turkish minister said on Friday.
Interviewed by with NTV television, Turkish Minister of Energy Fatih Dönmez said oil refiner Tupras was looking at alternatives to avoid any market difficulties, adding that the 25 per cent figure was approximate and Ankara is yet to receive an exact figure.
Dönmez said Turkey still had a contract to buy natural gas from Iran for five to six years, adding that Ankara would continue to buy gas from Tehran.
The 25 per cent waiver amounts to around 3 million tonnes of oil annually. Turkey has been importing around 200,000 bpd of oil from Iran over the past two years, with Greece importing less than 100,000 bpd.
Turkey: We will not abide by the sanctions
Turkey has stated it is also considering possible imports after receiving a waiver, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday the country ‘would not abide by the sanctions’ as they were aimed at ‘unbalancing the world.’
