Iran offers to ship crude to South Korea on its own oil tankers
Iran offered to supply oil to South Korea on its own tankers as the European Union moves to stop shippers from getting insurance for cargoes from the Persian Gulf nation, according to a government official in Seoul.
The South Korean government is still discussing how it will deal with EU sanctions on Iran that take effect July 1, said the official who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. An official at the National Iranian Oil Co.’s office in Singapore declined to comment or be named.
South Korea, which imports all of its crude, may halt purchases from Iran after it failed to win an exemption from the EU ban, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a statement June 26.
The sanctions mean 95 percent of the world’s tankers may lose insurance if they carry cargo from the Persian Gulf state because they’re covered by the 13 members of the London-based International Group of P&I Clubs. Japan’s parliament passed a bill last week to provide $7.6 billion of sovereign guarantees to its tanker owners that ship Iranian oil as it seeks to maintain imports from the country.