Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec 23 /Trend A.Taghiev/
Turkish petrochemical company Tupras says it will continue its cooperation with Iran, despite EU sanctions against the oil sector of that country, director of corporate communications Irfan Meidan told Trend.
Tupras and Iran's State Oil Company (NIOC) have been collaborating since 1978 and we signed a new agreement this year," Mr Meidan said. The agreement on further cooperation in 2012 was signed in August 2011 and provides for the delivery of oil from Iran to the sum of nine million tons a year.
In 2010, Tupras bought 7.41 million tons of Iranian oil, which makes it almost 38 per cent of the oil produced amounting to 19.6 million tons recycled by the company last year.
Tupras was established in 1983 and is one of the largest in Europe. The company has four refineries, a petrochemical complex and provides about 85 per cent of oil in Turkey.
The U.S., UK and Canada announced the introduction of unilateral sanctions against Iran and the energy and financial sectors of the Iranian economy in November 21, 2011. The French authorities proposed to introduce new 'unprecedented' sanctions, including freezing of assets of the Central Bank of Iran, as well as to suspend the purchase of Iranian oil.
The U.S., Israel and several Western countries suspect Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. The Iranian government says its nuclear programme is peaceful.