Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.23 /Trend, A.Yusifzade /
Italy's oil imports from Iran have increased by 90,8 percent for the first nine months of 2010 to reach 8.29 million tons. This figure shows that Iran is the second oil supplier for Italy after Russia, MOJ reported.
Italy imported 57.34 million tons of crude oil in January-September.
According to this report, Iran's oil accounted for 15, 6 percent of Italy's total crude imports.
Italy's imports suddenly changed as the United States and its allies are making efforts to impose restrictions on Iran's energy imports and exports over the country's nuclear activity.
After the UN Security Council issued a resolution imposing the fourth round of sanctions on Iran in June, the United States and the European Union followed the example, imposing their own unilateral sanctions.
Earlier, Italian Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi doubted about the success of the sanctions, saying that "a more gentle approach" may prove useful.
Although Italy has participated in the sanctions against the Islamic Republic, I am afraid that the sanctions will not bring success,' German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper quoted Berlusconi as saying.
"A gentle and circumspect approach would be more helpful," Italian Prime Minister told the newspaper.
Ahmad Qalebani, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said that the demand for Iranian crude oil has increased despite the sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
"The sanctions have had no impact on Iran's oil exports. The sanctions did not reduce Iran's oil exports but increased demand for the country's oil," Qalebani added.
Iran is the second largest oil producer of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Iran's crude oil reserves amounts to 150.310 billion barrels based on the latest revision of oil and gas field's explorations, Iranian minister of petroleum Masoud Mirkazemi said.