* Will ask Iran to deliver the crude, cover insurance risk
* Chinese, Indian buyers have also asked Iran to deliver
* Korean deal almost reached, government source says
* First cargo could arrive end September or early October
* Asia's big-four buyers take over half of Iran's exports
(Updates with status of imports by China, India and Japan)
SEOUL, Aug 8 (Reuters) - South Korean refiners plan to
resume buying crude from Iran in September after a two-month
hiatus due to a European Union embargo that made shipping the
oil difficult, government and refining sources said on
Wednesday.
The refiners have, like their Chinese and Indian
counterparts, asked Iran to deliver crude on Iranian tankers,
government and industry sources said. This shifts the
responsibility to Iran for insurance, sidestepping a ban in the
EU on insurers from covering Iranian shipments.
Iran has a major interest in keeping its crude flowing to
South Korea, China, India and Japan because they are its top
four customers. They buy more than half of its oil exports.
They have slashed Iranian purchases this year, though, under
pressure from EU and U.S. sanctions that aim to squeeze Tehran's
oil income and curb its nuclear programme. The West suspects
Iran wants to develop weapons, which Tehran denies.
Sources said Iran's crude exports dropped to about 1.1
million barrels per day in June and July from more than 2
million bpd at the start of the year. At current prices, the
lower volume means the loss of some $110 million a day in export
earnings.
Japan and South Korea, Iran's third- and fourth-biggest oil
buyers, both halted imports in July as they scrambled to work
out how to continue imports under the EU sanctions, which have
made it tough to ship, insure and pay for Iranian oil.
EU insurers underwrite most maritime shipping, and insurers
elsewhere have been unable to offer cover for the billions of
dollars in claims that could stem from a spill.
The EU sanctions came into force on July 1, after new U.S.
sanctions targeted at financial transactions for oil purchases
took effect in late June.
CLOSE TO A DEAL
South Korean refiners and the National Iranian Tanker
Company (NITC) are close to finalising a deal that would allow
loading to resume from September, sources said.
"Refiners have requested Iran to deliver crude, and the deal
is almost reached," a government source with direct knowledge of
the matter said.
If there's a deal allowing refiners to load crude in
September, the first cargo should arrive in South Korea at the
end of that month or in early October, the source, who declined
to be identified due to the sensitivity of the subject, said.
Two refining sources confirmed the request had been made to
NITC. SK Energy and Hyundai Oilbank are the only two South
Korean refiners that import Iranian crude.
The refiners would buy a similar quantity of oil as they had
prior to the July stoppage, sources said. There may be some
variance month by month due to the size of vessels available for
imports from NITC, one refining source said.
In the first six months of 2012, South Korea's imports of
crude from Iran stood at 190,000 bpd, down 17 percent on the
year. Imports in June were just over 176,000 bpd.
Tehran offered to provide up to $1 billion of insurance
cover to Iranian vessels shipping oil to South Korea, Reuters
reported last month.
China, Iran's biggest customer, which has cut its Iran crude
imports by 21 percent in the first half of the year, has agreed
for Iran to deliver its oil to get around the EU insurance ban.
China has nominated full contract volumes for August
deliveries of about 520,000 bpd, about half of Iran's exports.
Refineries in India, the second-biggest buyer of Iranian
oil, have also asked Iran to deliver its crude. India's
state-run insurers can provide some limited cover for importers,
although shippers have yet to use it, saying the promised cover
is insufficient.
During the first half of 2012, India's purchases of Iranian
crude were steady compared with 2011, but it cut them by 18
percent in June.
Japan, which cuts it first half purchases from Iran by
one-third, has taken a different approach with a sovereign
insurance scheme to cover its importers.
(Additional reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Simon Webb
and Himani Sarkar)