UANI

"Other oil companies in the Mediterranean including Spain's Cepsa and three other Italian oil firms, ERG, Iplom and Saras have planned to take their last cargoes from Iran in June, other market sources said." (Reuters, "Eni suspends Iran's debt payments in oil," 5/31/2012)

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"Italian oil refiner Saras SpA (SRS.MI), traditionally a big buyer of Libyan crude oil, said in a Reuters interview on Friday that it was looking at replacing oil shipments from Libya and had already slightly increased sour crude supplies from Iran." (Reuters, "Iran sells more oil as Libyan exports dwindle," 2/25/11)

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"Oil trade with Iran remains more difficult following tougher sanctions against the Islamic Republic, industry sources said, despite a message from the European Union that such operations are legal. Saras, an Italian oil refiner, said last week that transactions with Iran have become more challenging as banks are reluctant to get involved. Other European oil companies have made similar remarks privately. 'The banking side is the tough part. It is very tough. It has to be banks that haven't got any kind of interests in the United States,' said an Iranian crude oil customer in Europe. Iran is a major oil exporter and its production is equal to about 4.2 percent of daily world demand. The amount of Iranian crude sold to countries that are members of the International Energy Agency declined by 22 percent in August." (Reuters, "Credit hurdles remain hindrance to Iran oil trade," 11/18/10)

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"Another trader said the market was aware that Italian firms Agip (ENI.MI) and Saras (SRS.MI) were importing Iranian crude with the financing help from Italian banks. Agip and Saras were not immediately available for comments." (Reuters, "Shell, Italy maintain Iran oil trade," 9/28/10)