Turkey’s imports of crude oil from Iran fell to 69,800 b/d in June, freshly released import stats show. This is only slightly above last November as the lowest figure since 2012. Iran was by far Turkey’s top supplier for 1H 2018 as a whole, with 172,500 b/d (a 46.7% market share), and an average of 221,000 b/d for March-May.
It may, however, be too soon to present this as a definitive downward trend in the face of US pressure. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted that his country will continue to import Iranian crude despite US sanctions threats (MEES, 10 August). And this was before relations between the two supposed allies deteriorated further as US president Trump reveled in Turkey’s recent economic woes (MEES, 17 August). (CONTINUED - 151 WORDS)