The United Arab Emirates' main exporter of crude oil will fulfill all supply contracts to Asia for March, for the first time in almost a year, to help the region's top buyers cut their dependence on oil from sanctions-hit Iran. Asia consumes more than half of Iran's exports of 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) but China, India and Japan - its three biggest customers - are under pressure to seek crude from other suppliers as sanctions undermine sales from OPEC's second-largest producer. The UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) will supply full contractual crude oil volumes to Asia in March for the first time since May 2011, industry sources said Wednesday. President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea, the fifth largest buyer of Iranian crude, is touring Gulf producers this week to secure crude, and held talks with Saudi Arabia, which has repeatedly said it would make up for any shortfall in supplies. Some of Iran's Asian customers have already started buying less crude. Media reports said Japan's biggest refiner, JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corp, will cut imports by about 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) from April, mirroring reductions by smaller Cosmo Oil started in January. Japan's oil imports have been declining for years as consumers move to cleaner-burning natural gas. “Because of the Iranian situation, everybody will be looking to ensure the stability of supply,” said a north Asian refiner with an annual contract to buy oil from the UAE. “So if you have a contract with suppliers like ADNOC, you will try to maximize the volumes that you can lift.” China, the world's second largest oil consumer, has slashed purchases from Iran for the first quarter of this year, although the reduction is not sanctions-related but stems from a dispute over contract terms and as Beijing seeks to negotiate lower prices. China is the top buyer of Iranian oil, taking around 20 percent of Tehran's total exports, but since January it has cut purchases by around 285,000 barrels per day (bpd), or just over half of the total daily amount it imported in 2011. China is now scouring the world for alternative oil supplies, and has been drawing on Saudi Arabia in addition to importing more cargoes from West Africa, Russia and Australia. Iran's oil trade with second-biggest crude customer India has also been fraught with problems in the past 13 months after a clearing mechanism was scrapped.
