Turkey to purchase some of oil from Libya instead of Iran.

March 30 2012 (TUR) -- Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said Friday that they had taken a decision to purchase some of the oil provided by Iran from Libya. Speaking to reporters at the Turkish Parliament, Yildiz stressed that Turkey would purchase around one million tonnes of crude oil in 2012. We will purchase the crude oil via the private Turkish Petroleum Refineries Co. (TUPRAS). We have begun purchasing crude oil from Libya in 2012. We believe that this was a correct step to boost commercial relations with Libya. Accordingly, we will reduce the amount of crude oil bought from Iran, Yildiz underlined. Turkey's decision to reduce the amount of crude oil bought from Iran came after the European Union (EU) countries recently decided not to sign new oil contracts with Iran and to end existing ones by July 1, 2012. The EU ban will cover imports of crude oil, petroleum products and petrochemical products. Turkey's decision also came after the United States President Barack Obama placed stricter sanctions on Iran's government, including its central bank. In an executive order earlier this year, Obama said he was freezing all Iranian government assets held or traded in the US. Concerns have grown in Israel and the West that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, although Tehran says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.

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