Reuters reported that Turkish refiner Tupras plans to cut its dependence on imports of Iranian oil and will meet Saudi Arabian authorities in January 2012.

Turkey imports more than 30% of its daily consumption from Iran and has so far given no indication that it will comply with a planned European Union import embargo on Iranian crude. But one of the sources said that Iranian threats to shut down the world's most important oil export route, the Strait of Hormuz, had helped push Turkish oil officials to try to reduce the country's heavy dependence on Iran's oil.

Iran has made no move to shut the world's most important oil export route, which had a daily flow of almost 17 million barrels in 2011, but has threatened action if Europe implements new sanctions.

Another of the sources said Tupras officials were planning to meet Saudi Arabian oil authorities this month, with a view to switching to alternative sources of crude by the summer. Tupras declined to give an immediate comment.

A Saudi source said the kingdom's oil authorities were getting more orders to replace Iranian crude but declined to comment on specific requests. The first source said Turkey was also planning to meet with oil suppliers from Russia, Azerbaijan and West Africa.

According to sources familiar with the Russian oil market, Turkey has begun to show an increased interest in its crude supplies.

(Sourced from www.reuters.com)