A divided EU to decide on oil embargo on Iran January 23

Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:27 UTC

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US wants to make it impossible for world refineries to buy Iranian oil

European Union governments agreed Tuesday to bring forward a meeting of foreign ministers expected to decide on an oil embargo on Iran by one week to January 23. In its statement confirming the date, the EU said the decision to bring it forward from January 30 was taken to avoid a scheduling clash with a summit of EU leaders set for that day.

EU states have already agreed in principle to an embargo on imports of Iranian oil, part of the latest Western efforts to increase pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

However, they still have to finalise details of when it will be imposed. Diplomats say the embargo could take several months to start because some EU capitals want a delay to reduce any shocks to their already sluggish economies.

EU countries have proposed “grace periods” on existing contracts of between one month and 12 months to allow them to find alternative suppliers before implementing an embargo.

Greece, which depends heavily on Iranian crude, is pushing for the longest delay, the diplomats said. Britain, France, the Netherlands and Germany wanted a maximum grace period of three months. The three biggest EU importers have serious debt problems. Greece imports a quarter of its oil from Iran, Italy about 13% and Spain nearly 10%.

The goal had originally been for a final decision on January 30, but the move to bring forward the foreign ministers' meeting will increase pressure for a quicker resolution. Diplomats said an EU working group meeting on Monday had not appeared to narrow the differences and further discussions would take place this week.

European measures against Iran's oil industry will complement US sanctions announced on December 31 that aim to make it impossible for most countries' refineries to buy Iranian crude.

Iran is the second largest producer of oil, after Saudi Arabia, among the 12 countries in OPEC, producing around 3.5 million barrels per day. EU countries buy nearly 600.000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iran's 2.6 million bpd in exports, making the bloc collectively the largest market for Iranian crude, rivalling China.

Categories: Economy, Energy & Oil, Investments, Politics, International, Latin America.

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ChrisR
So some in the EU want to delay implementation of the ban. Why am I not suprised?

Greece should be cast loose of the EU anyway and stop bleeding our money away on a bunch of idle bastards. See how much Iranian oil they can buy with 'New Drachma's', because they won't get many USDs.

We should call the EU's bluff and go ahead anyway and get rid of the Islamist Nutters ruling Iran as soon as possible. The UK and the USA have plenty of good expertise running oilfields.
Jan 11th, 2012 - 01:39 pm 0
Forgetit87
It should be reminded the catastrophic impact the embargo against Iraqi oil had on the civilian population - not against Saddan Hussein, it should be emphasized, but against Iraqi civilians, specially children, whose death rates climbed following the embargo. As was the case for the embargo against Iraq, the one against Iran is aimed at disrupting normal life for ordinary citizens until they're led to rebel against their country's regime's policies. Whether this is an effective policy is beyond the point - recent history has shown enough about that. But the point is: how, in a moral sense, are such embargoes different from terrorism? Isn't terrorism also about affecting, about worsening, the lives of common citizens in order to create popular pressure against targeted regimes?
Jan 11th, 2012 - 08:37 pm 0

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