Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Turkish energy minister Taner Yildiz announced on Wednesday that his country would continue purchasing oil from Iran, IRNA news agency reported.

Yildiz said Washington has not demanded Ankara to reduce its oil purchase from Tehran and Turkey will continue buying Iran's crude.

"There is no new demand from the U.S. to reduce the amount of crude oil which we get from Iran," he said.

"Under any circumstances we will continue purchasing crude oil from Iran like in the past," Yildiz said in an interview with reporters.

The minister said that the Turkish oil refiner Tupras has continued to import crude oil from Iran.

"Unlike some European countries, Turkey is not a country which imports three-five percent of its needs from Iran," the minister explained in a reference to crude oil shipments.

"Last year, Turkey met almost half of its needs from Iran. It is an important source of imports therefore."

Yildiz added that Turkey had bought more oil from Libya, Saudi Arabia and Russia to make up for declining crude imports from Iran due to the US-EU sanctions.

In June, Washington exempted Turkey and six other countries from its sanctions against Iran's oil sector for six months in return for a 20 percent cut in Ankara's purchase of Iranian crude oil.

The US Senate has also approved further bans on trade with Iran's energy and shipping sectors. Under the new package, which has not yet become law, exemptions stand for countries that have made significant cuts in their imports of Iranian crude oil.

Official figures showed Turkey's crude oil imports from Iran dropped by more than 30 percent to 75,281 barrels per day in October compared with September. Imports from Iran, which was once supplying more than 60 percent of Turkey's crude oil requirements, came third in October behind Iraq and Russia. India, China and South Korea also cut their oil imports from Iran.

Besides, Yildiz said that Turkey also will continue buying natural gas from Iran despite sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic by the West, Press TV reported.

"It is out of question for us to take a step backward," Yildiz said Wednesday. "Furthermore, we have not been asked to take such a step," he added.

Yildiz said that Tehran supplies 18 to 20 percent of the gas consumed by Turkey, which makes it the second exporter of gas to Ankara.

Also, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier that Turkey will continue to buy gas from Iran, even if international sanctions are imposed on Iran. Iran is the second major supplier of gas to Turkey after Russia. Turkey does not intend to refuse from the Iranian gas because of the sanctions of the certain country and issue of Iranian gas imports into Turkey is a strategic, Erdogan said.

Turkey annually imports 8 million tons of oil and 8 billion cubic meters of gas from Iran.

In 1996, Iran and Turkey signed an agreement to supply 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey annually (30 million cubic meters per day).

Besides, media reported earlier that Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said Iran cannot get money for its gas exports to Turkey in foreign currency, due to international sanctions, therefore the country has to pay for it in gold.

However, Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan denied the information, saying "gold is exported from Turkey in the same way as exports of other goods. Export of gold is not payment for natural gas or oil products."

According to the figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, Iran becomes Turkey's third biggest business partner with a trade exchange of $17.52bln.

Turkey imported $8.94 billion in goods from Iran, and exported $8.58 billion in goods to the Islamic Republic.

The two countries' officials stressed the need for stronger relations and pursuing the planned increase of bilateral trade to $30bln by 2015.

Turkey was Iran's fifth-largest oil customer in 2011, buying around 200,000 barrels per day, 30 percent of its total imports and more than 7 percent of Iran's oil exports.

Despite Turkey's commitment to continue imports from Iran, some Asian importers of the Iranian crude, such as China, India, Japan and South Korea will deepen import cuts in 2013 that will cause hardship for Iran.