EU figures showed that imports of Iranian crude were up about 7% in the Q3 of 2011 compared to the Q2.

The EU said that it imported about 700,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude oil in the Q3 of 2011 compared to about 655,000 barrels per day in the Q2.

The EU agreed on January 23rd 2012 to ban Iranian oil imports, but the embargo will not be fully implemented until July 1st 2012 to avoid harming economies to which Iran has been a major supplier.

OPEC's second largest producer, Iran, sells large volumes of oil to China, India, South Korea, Japan and Italy. But Greece, Turkey, South Africa and Sri Lanka rely most heavily on Iranian oil as a percentage of their imports.

Iran produces about 3.5 million barrels per day of crude with another 500,000 barrels per day of condensate light hydrocarbon liquids. Iran exports about 2.6 million barrels per day of which about 50,000 barrels per day is refined products.

IEA data showed that Sri Lanka imported 39,000 barrels per day in the H1 of the year. It is completely reliant on Iranian oil. Iran holds around 137 billion barrels of proven oil reserves or nearly 10% of the world total.

(Sourced from Reuters)