Following European Union imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran, Spain’s Crude Oil Import from Iran dropped in January, while its supplies from Nigeria and Iraq rose sharply, official data showed on Monday.
Data from the strategic hydrocarbons reserve board CORES indicated that Spain had imported 279,000 tonnes of crude oil from Iran, representing a 31 percent drop from December’s figures.
As a proportion of total imports, Iranian crude fell to 6 percent in January from 9.5 percent in December, which compares with around 14 percent in previous months.
Spain, which needs to import virtually all of its crude, ramped up imports in January from Nigeria, Iraq and Libya, where production has been returning to normal after last year’s civil war.
With this development, Nigeria has emerged the largest supplier of crude oil to Spain, after crude supplies from Saudi Arabia also dropped from 822,000 tonnes in December 2011 to 689,000 tonnes in January 2012.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Iran on Jan. 23 over the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme, although importers have until July 1 to execute previously signed contracts.
Trade sources say they expect Spain’s crude imports from Iran to have dropped further in February.
Spain’s biggest refiner, Repsol, has repeatedly declined to comment on details of its oil purchases, but in February the government said the country’s two biggest oil companies had arranged to switch imports from Iran to Saudi Arabia, Russia and, to a lesser extent, Iraq.
Spain’s No. 2 refiner, Cepsa, has said it plans to source crude from the United Arab Emirates.
