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Israel is buying crude oil from Iran

In spite of their own calls for a boycott, the Israelis are profiting from their arch-enemy’s black gold - delivered via Europe. Israel is protesting against the deal on natural gas struck between Iran and the Swiss electric company Laufenberg. Yet research shows that Israel itself is obtaining oil from its adversary.

By Shraga Elam

Last week, the trustworthy Israeli Energy Newsletter “Energia News” reported that Israel is importing Iranian oil via Europe on a grand scale, although contact with Iran, as well as the purchasing of its products, is officially being boycotted. The newsletter is produced by experienced economic journalists, and renowned politicians and people from the world of economics sit on its editorial board.

“Energia News” received the information about the trade with Iran from sources close to the management of the Israeli company Oil Refineries Ltd. This company definitely knows where the black gold is coming from – after all, this is the company refining it. According to “Energia News” Iranian crude oil is popular in Israel, as it is qualitatively better than other forms of oil.
 
The editor-in-chief of “Energia News”, Moshe Shalev, further states that the Iranian oil reaches various European harbours. But it is predominantly shipped to Rotterdam, where it is bought by Israelis and given the relevant transportation and insurance papers. Then it is transported to Haifa in Israel. The importer is the Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline company (EAPC), which however keeps quiet about the source of its oil.

Half of the EAPC actually belongs to Iran – it was founded in 1968 by the Shah together with Israel. In order to avoid embarrassing Iran, the transaction was carried out through a common company in Geneva – Trans Asiatic Oil. Since the fall of the Shah there has been a court procedure against this company. The reason: Israel is refusing to recognise Iranian claims, which are in the billions.

It is unclear whether the Iranian exporters know about the import of crude oil from Israel. The Israeli purchasers and government departments on the other hand – in a crass circumvention of the boycott that they are publicly promoting – are fully aware of the origin of the precious black gold. 

The article even managed to survive Israeli censorship, although it did push through a few amendments. Yet this further increases the reliability of the information. In the nineties, such reports were still banned.

At the request of the Swiss newspaper “Sonntags”, the energy expert of a leading Israeli newspaper confirmed the information, saying that Israel has been importing crude oil from Iran for years, albeit on the free market and not directly from Iran. Still, despite the fact that these are boycotted goods and that Israel is the driving force behind the ostracism of Iran were not considered sufficient for the Israeli media to pick up this subject.

The spokesman of Oil Refineries Ltd., Moshe Debby, however denied that his company imports or processes Iranian oil. Yet his statement conflicts with articles in Israeli newspapers from October 2006. At this time there was an exception in the censorship policy and newspapers like “Ha’aretz” reported that the Israeli company Paz wanted to import Iranian crude oil - which was to be refined in Israel, partly delivered to the Palestinian authorities and sold on the Israeli market.

In the same article, the Israeli Energy Minister Benjamin Ben Elieser is quoted as pragmatically saying that, “every attempt to make contact with an enemy state which serves the business and economic interests of Israel increases stability in the region”. And the Israeli Finance Ministry let it be known that researching where the oil came from was not the business of this particular department.