Greece’s top refiner Hellenic Petroleum has suspended purchases of Iranian crude in April as approaching sanctions on Tehran have made banking payments virtually impossible, a senior source at the firm said.
Greece’s financial difficulties have made Athens reluctant to reduce its purchases of Iranian crude, which is cheap, ahead of a EU-wide embargo that is due to come into force on July 1.
But the source at the refiner, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said no European Union banks were willing to handle the business any more, forcing it to suspend buying this month.
“We were using a Turkish bank all the time but we have to use an EU corresponding bank to make the payment from our Greek bank to the Turkish one and the EU banks are refusing that,” the source told Reuters, Hurriyet Daily reports.