Today the President made the determination required under Section 1245(d)(4)(B) and (C) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 regarding the supply of petroleum and petroleum products from countries other than Iran.
The analysis contained in the Energy Information Administration’s report of February 29, 2012, indicates that the oil market became increasingly tight over the first two months of 2012. That tightness remains today. A series of production disruptions in South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria, and the North Sea have removed oil from the market. In addition, international concerns over Iran’s nuclear activities and recent steps taken to reduce the amount of Iranian crude oil and petroleum product imports are contributing to an increased demand for non-Iranian crude oil.
Nonetheless, there currently appears to be sufficient supply of non-Iranian oil to permit foreign countries to significantly reduce their import of Iranian oil, taking into account current estimates of demand, increased production by some countries, private inventories of crude oil and petroleum products, and available strategic petroleum reserves and in fact, many purchasers of Iranian crude oil have already reduced their purchases or announced they are in productive discussions with alternative suppliers.