Japan's Idemitsu Kosan yet to consider resuming Iran oil imports

Japan's second largest refiner Idemitsu Kosan said Feb. 8 it is yet to consider resuming Iranian crude oil imports, despite the recent US move to grant some sanctions relief to Tehran's civil nuclear program.

"At this moment, we do not have any plans to resume [imports of] Iranian crude oil," Yoshitaka Onuma, general manager of Idemitsu Kosan's finance department, told an online earnings press conference.

The US State Department notified Congress Feb. 4 that it was restoring a sanctions waiver to allow third-party participation in nuclear non-proliferation and safety projects, in particular with respect to rising stockpiles of enriched uranium in Iran, a senior State official said on the condition of anonymity.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action of 2015 set restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from US sanctions. The Trump administration reimposed sanctions on Iran's oil, petrochemicals, shipping, and other sectors, in 2018.

Talks to revive the JCPOA stalled mid-2021 but restarted in December.

Japan suspended its Iranian oil imports in May 2019, after briefly resuming inflows in February for the first time in four months, after the US declined to extend its 180-day sanctions waiver beyond early May on Iranian oil imports.

Japan's 2019 Iranian oil imports totaled 17.10 million barrels, down 63.2% from 46.51 million barrels in 2018, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry data.