The European Union is expected to bring
forward a meeting of foreign ministers due to decide on an oil embargo
on Iran by one week to January 23, EU diplomats said on Monday. They said a final decision would be
taken by a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels on Tuesday, and the aim
would be to avoid overshadowing a summit of EU leaders set for January
30. “It looks likely it will be brought
forward to the 23rd,” one of the diplomats said. EU states have already agreed in
principle to an embargo on Iranian oil, part of the latest Western
effort to ratchet up pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme. 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 shield
their debt-stricken economies. EU countries have proposed “grace
periods” on existing contracts of between one month and 12 months to
allow them to find alternative supplies.
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 goal had originally been for a final
decision on January 30, but the decision to move the foreign ministers’
meeting will increase pressure for a quicker decision. A diplomat said an EU working group
meeting on Monday had not appeared to narrow the differences. European measures against Iran’s oil
industry will complement U.S. sanctions announced on New Year’s Eve 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 Organisation of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), producing around 3.5m barrels per
day.
EU countries buy about 500,000 barrels
per day (bpd) of Iran’s 2.6m bpd in exports, making the bloc
collectively the largest market for Iranian crude, rivalling China. The three biggest EU importers have
serious debt problems. Greece imports a quarter of its oil from Iran,
Italy about 13 percent and Spain nearly 10 percent.
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