Iranian Oil Tentacles

The foreign policy blog (http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/8593) recently posted a piece written by a blogger for the Guardian's Comment is Free. Richard Silverstein criticizes Israel for its "righteous indignation" over Swiss gas contracts with Iran, considering that, according to his pseudo-expertise, "Israel imports Iranian oil on a large scale even though contacts with Iran and purchasing of its products are officially boycotted by Israel. Israel gets around the boycott by having the oil delivered via Europe." This according to Energia, a "credible" source was picked up by Norman Finklestein, David Duke and other menschs.

Let us set the record straight.

According to a recently declassified USDA Foreign Agricultural Service from Aug. 2007, out of total crude oil imports to Israel, about 94 percent was imported from the Black Sea Basin (Russia and Ukraine), and the rest was imported from Egypt and Mexico. So much for "large scale." Considering Israel has domestic production which is more than 2 percent, even if this came from Iran, we are talking about a very small percentage.

But the question remains, does Israel get any of its oil from Iran? The fact of the matter is that much of the oil Israel imports is crude, and is refined here. Because Israel gets oil from some of the same countries that import from Iran themselves, there is a good chance that there is some small percentage of Iranian crude flowing through Israeli refineries. This does not mean Israel is signing contracts with Iran. It is due to the nature of the fungibility of crude oil; so long as it comes from the same region, it can be blended with other sorts. The claim in the Guardian that "At the other end, the Israeli buyers and governmental offices are well aware of where the high-grade oil comes from, although it is a blatant defiance of the boycott," is ridiculous. There is nothing high grade about it.