despite having European Union clearance to receive the oil to recover $1 billion in debts, industry sources have told Reuters.
An EU ban on imports of oil from Iran came into force July 1, but the bloc exempted ENI to allow it to recoup long-standing debts it is owned by Tehran for work it undertook in the energy sector, which are being paid in oil. In other words, ENI is not buying Iranian oil, it is being paid Iranian oil for an oilfield it developed years ago for Iran.
But ENI still needs to carry the oil from Iran to Italy. And European sanctions bar insurance for ships carrying Iranian oil.
Many in the industry say the insurance measure has proved to be the hardest hitting in the West’s arsenal of sanctions.
Several traders said the difficulty in finding an insurer for the deliveries from Iran was the main reason ENI had not received any shipments in July or August. “You can’t even get one cargo insured,” another trader said.
ENI’s chief executive Paolo Scaroni told reporters in June he expected the company to continue to take Iranian crude to recover what it is owed.