Turkey to halt imports of Syrian oil after last cargo loaded: sources

London (Platts)--27Sep2011/631 am EDT/1031 GMT

Turkey's Tupras is not planning to lift any more Syrian crude oil due to difficulties with financing after the company loaded its last cargo at the end of last week, crude traders said Tuesday.

Trading sources reported that Tupras, which is a regular lifter of Syrian crude oil and has a contract with Syria's Sytrol, loaded a cargo of Souedie sour crude around September 23.

"Tupras loaded Souedie [crude cargo] on September 23... on a Turkish vessel... Ismail Kapitanoglu," said a crude trader.

Tupras was not available for official comment.

This was the first cargo exported from Syria after the EU announced September 3 sanctions on the purchase, transport or importation of any oil of Syrian origin, traders said.

"[Turkish Tupras] is not under sanctions, but [they] have had a hard time finding a bank to transact money," said one trading source, adding that Turkey managed to resolve the payment issue this time but it would be difficult to find a bank willing to transact money in the near future.

"No banks in Europe are willing to open LCs [letters of credit]... the problem with finance is the biggest even if you have a vessel," said a trading source.

Turkey has been a long-time ally of Syria, but Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week criticized Damascus' deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

"We have many times warned the Syrian leadership over the crackdown since mid-March," Erdogan said in New York. He added that Ankara had halted talks with Syria.

"What is surprising is that Turkey is criticizing Syria and then [you see that] they are the only ones who lift," said one crude trader. Turkey is also said to be mulling imposing its own set of sanctions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

--Natalia Beales, natalia_beales@platts.com

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