Shell has now stopped buying Iranian crude, a spokesman for the company said Thursday, well ahead of a July 1 deadline imposed by the EU banning imports of oil from Iran.
The spokesman confirmed a report by Reuters Wednesday quoting Shell CEO Peter Voser.
"The story which quotes Peter is accurate," the spokesman said.
Voser, speaking in Houston, said Shell was no longer buying Iranian crude and that the final volumes from existing contracts would be taken within weeks.
Shell has been seen taking Iranian crude in recent weeks. Citing ship tracking tool Platts cTrack and shipping sources, Platts reported last week that the National Iranian Tanker Company-owned Delvar discharged a cargo of condensate at Shell's Bukom terminal in Singapore.
That was after having performed a ship-to-ship transfer near Indonesia's Karimun Island the previous week.
However, Iranian oil minister Rostam Ghasemi Tuesday rebutted the report that the National Iranian Oil Company had sold the oil to Shell for use in the Singapore refinery.
Semi-official news agency Mehr quoted Ghasemi as telling reporters that claims Iran had delivered 1.5 million barrels of crude to the Singapore plant were false.
Shell said at the time that it did not comment on its trading activities.
A European Union ban on oil imports from Iran will come into force on July 1. EU-based companies have until end-June to find alternative supplies.
