EU scoffs at Iran's threat to cut oil supplies

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Union yesterday shrugged off Tehran's threat to cut oil to "hostile" EU nations, saying the bloc was capable of coping with any halt in Iranian supplies.

"In terms of immediate security of stocks, the EU is well stocked with oil and petroleum products to face a potential disruption of supplies," said Sebastien Brabant, a spokesman for EU policy chief Catherine Ashton.

In Rome, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Tehran's move "makes one smile" and that it is "very imaginative" in provocating others.

"Undoubtedly, Iran is very imaginative with regards to provocation. It is not Iran that decided to cut off its deliveries, we are the ones who decided to terminate our orders," Juppe told a press conference in Rome.

"It makes one smile," he added.

Iran this weekend halted oil sales to France and Britain and earlier yesterday threatened to extend the ban to other nations.

The move appears to be a response to an EU-wide ban on Iranian oil that is to come fully into effect July 1 as part of Western sanctions against Tehran's nuclear programme.

Exports to Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands would be stopped "if the hostile actions of some European countries continue", said Ahmad Qalebani, who runs the National Iranian Oil Company.

Iran exports about 20 per cent of its crude — some 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) — to the European Union, most of which goes to Italy, Spain and Greece.

France imports only around three percent of its oil from Iran, and Britain less than one per cent.

"The supplies ... are rather marginal when compared to the total of our needs, and it is the European Union that has decided to impose an embargo on Iranian oil sales," Juppe said.