UANI

"Engen has turned to top oil exporter Saudi Aramco for additional crude after South Africa's biggest buyer of Iranian crude halted imports from the Islamic Republic, trade sources said on Wednesday. Engen, majority owned by Malaysian national oil company Petronas, will replace about half of the Iranian volumes with Saudi supplies and the remaining will be filled up from the spot market, mainly from West Africa, the sources said. The refiner suspended an annual contract for 50,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude in March, joining a growing list of buyers bowing to Western pressure to cut business dealings with Tehran to isolate the country." (Reuters,"S.Africa Engen buys Saudi crude to replace Iran," 4/18/12)

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"Petronas' South African unit Engen said on Wednesday it had halted all imports of crude from Iran after deciding the sanctions placed on the Middle Eastern country were a risk to its security of supply.  'We have been working on diverting our supply since identifying Iran as a risk,' said Engen spokeswoman Tania Landsberg. Engen, the biggest. South African buyer of Iranian crude, is majority-owned by Malaysian national oil company Petronas. While Landsberg would not comment on when Engen stopped imports, a Petronas source told Reuters last month Engen had stopped buying Iranian oil from March." (Reuters, "Petronas S. Africa unit Engen ends Iran crude imports," 4/4/12)

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"Open sources reported that Petronas sold gasoline to Iran in 2009 and 2010 and stopped in 2010." (U.S. Government Accountability Office, Report: "Firms Reported in Open Sources to Have Sold Iran Refined Petroleum Products between January 1, 2009 and June," September 3, 2010)

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UPSTREAM: Interest in South Pars Gas Development project, phases 2 & 3
Partners: TOTAL (Operator) and Gazprom
Status: Production (Source: Company Website)

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"Malaysia's Petronas has stopped supplying gasoline to Iran, a company spokesman said on Thursday, as the threat of U.S. sanctions on oil firms with supply ties to the Islamic Republic looms large." (Reuters, "Petronas Halts Fuel Sales to Iran as Sanctions Loom," 4/15/10) 

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Gazprom, together with Frances Total and Malaysias Petronas, has already invested in phases 2-3 of massive South Pars gas field, a project worth around $2 billion. (Reuters, "Gazprom, Iran agree new large energy projects," 2/19/08)

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"Malaysian state oil firm Petronas will halt all imports of Iranian crude from April, two months before a U.S. embargo takes effect, joining a growing list of buyers bowing to Western pressure to isolate Iran.  China, India, Japan and South Korea are the four biggest buyers of Iranian crude in Asia and all are cutting imports. Iran sells most of its 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of exports in the region.  Petronas PETR.UL sources said on Friday the company was already looking at other suppliers.  "We are complying and aim to cut all our imports from Iran by April," said a senior Petronas official with direct knowledge of the issue. "We are looking at alternative sources."  A Petronas spokesman was unavailable for comment.  Petronas imports some 50,000-60,000 bpd of Iranian crude, the sources said, making it a mid-sized Asian buyer compared with top Iranian oil importers such as China's Zhuhai Zhenrong and Unipec which buy more than 200,000 bpd each."  (Reuters, "Malaysia to halt Iran oil imports- sources," 3/23/12)