Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has welcomed the US decision to exempt it for 180 days from sanctions levied against countries who trade with Iran, it said in a statement Friday on its website.
The exemption takes "into account that since May 2012, no Iranian crude oil was imported into Singapore," an MFA spokesman said in the statement. "Notwithstanding this exception, Singapore companies and [financial institutions based in Singapore] know these unilateral sanctions still exist, and should continue to consider the impact of all such sanctions on their commercial decisions."
The US on Thursday exempted China and Singapore for 180 days from sanctions over Iran, bringing to 20 the number of countries that have now been granted such an exemption. In announcing the decision, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement that both countries, "have significantly reduced their volume of crude oil purchases from Iran."
As of Thursday, the statement said, any financial institution based in a country that has not received an exception is subject to US sanctions if it knowingly conducts a significant transaction with the Central Bank of Iran for the sale or purchase of petroleum or petroleum products to or from Iran.
Earlier Thursday, before the US had announced that Singapore had been granted an exemption from its sanctions, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore issued an official circular "reminding" the marine and oil industry to be aware of existing and impending "unilateral sanctions by foreign jurisdictions."
In the circular, the MPA referred to a list of sanctions by the European Union, the UK, Japan, and the US.
"This circular seeks to inform the maritime industry that unilateral sanctions have been imposed by foreign jurisdictions that may have consequences on companies operating in the shipping, port and marine sectors of Singapore," MPA said.
"While Singapore does not enforce unilateral sanctions imposed by foreign jurisdictions, companies may nevertheless be affected by these unilateral sanctions through enforcement measures taken by such foreign jurisdictions," the circular stated.
While official Singapore data does show the island nation has imported no Iranian crude oil since May, fuel oil from Iran continues to trickle in.
About 81,629 mt of fuel oil originating from Iran flowed into Singapore in the week ended June 27, raising total fuel oil imports from the Middle Eastern country this year to 825,615 mt, according to data released Thursday by trade promotion agency IE Singapore.
Iranian fuel oil began flowing into Singapore on April 12, after more than a year of no reported imports from the Gulf country. Prior to April this year, Singapore had last imported 362,448 mt of fuel oil from Iran in the week ended February 9, 2011.
Singapore, a major trading center for refined oil products and the world's biggest bunker fuel market by volume, relied on Iran for 6% of its total fuel oil imports between 2007 and 2011, after which direct imports from Iran stopped.
--For a major news feature on how US and EU sanctions against Iran are changing the global oil supply landscape please go to http://plts.co/iran2012
