EU ‘has enough oil’ to cope with Iran disruption

The European Union said the bloc’s nations are reducing purchases of oil from Iran and have enough reserves to face potential supply disruptions even if the Persian Gulf country halts crude sales before an EU embargo comes into force on July 1.

As oil prices hit a nine-month high yesterday, some of the EU’s 27 nations have already stopped purchasing oil from Iran and others are buying less, according to Marlene Holzner, energy spokeswoman for the European Commission. Her comments come after the Iranian oil ministry’s news website reported the country halted oil sales to French and British buyers to pre-empt the EU ban.

The UK, Austria and Portugal did not import any oil from Iran in the period from January to September 2011, according to EU data. Belgium, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, which bought 2.38 million tons of Iranian crude in that period, have now stopped purchases and Italy, Spain and Greece are reducing imports, Ms Holzner said.