Figures from the European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, reveal that Ankara resumed importing oil from Tehran in March 2024, nearly four years after halting shipments to comply with US sanctions on Iran.
According to a Sunday report by IRNA news agency, Eurostat data showed Turkey imported 576 metric tons (mt) of oil from Iran in March and another 485 mt in April.
Turkey’s last oil shipment from Iran occurred in August 2020, when the country ceased imports under US pressure.
These figures indicate a growing trend of countries disregarding US sanctions on Iran and resuming oil shipments from the country.
Eurostat data also revealed that Bulgaria and Poland were the two EU members importing oil from Iran this year.
Bulgaria increased its oil imports from Iran by 113% to 314 mt in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
Poland, reporting its first Iranian oil import in two years, received a 19 mt shipment in March.
Georgia, an EU candidate country, imported 544 mt of oil from Iran in the March quarter, down from 974 mt in the same quarter last year.
Reports suggest more European countries are willing to bypass US sanctions and import oil from Iran as Tehran continues to sell record volumes to Asian markets.
Iran’s oil exports have reached more than 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in some months of this year and in 2023, a significant increase from the record lows of 0.3 million bpd reported in 2019 when the US intensified sanctions on Tehran.
