* U.S. in talks with suppliers and consumers on Iran
* Energy official says sufficient spare capacity available
By Agnieszka Flak
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 17 (Reuters) – The United States has
been working with oil producers to ensure global supplies flow
smoothly and ease concerns about a cut-off of crude from Iran,
which faces tougher sanctions for its suspected pursuit of
nuclear weapons, a senior official said on Tuesday.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman also said
Washington had been in talks with all oil importers to find
alternatives to Iranian supply and would work to avoid any price
shocks.
Countries such as South Korea, the world’s fifth-largest oil
importer, have warned they would find it difficult to replace
Iranian supplies, and many have been concerned that sanctions
pressure could lead to higher oil prices.
“We are working with oil producing nations and oil consuming
nations to study ways in which we can make sure that as
countries reduce their purchases of Iranian oil, that the weight
of that burden falls on Iran, not on the rest of the world,”
Poneman told journalists.
“The idea is to do this in a manner that does not hurt the
growth of any of our countries,” he said.
Major importers of Iranian oil were long loath to embargo
the lifeblood of Iran’s economy because of fears this would send
oil prices rocketing at a time they could least afford it due to
debt and deficit crises and high unemployment.
Continued…
