Japanese refiners have loaded Iranian oil onto a tanker, resuming imports after halting purchases because of sanctions by the United States, governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati said.
"After China, South Korea, India and Turkey, Japan also started the process of importing Iranian oil," IRNA cited Hemmati as saying.
Japanese refiner Fuji Oil Co lifted a cargo of Iranian crude oil over the weekend, a company spokesman said, Reuters reported.
"It took a while for us to resume imports of Iranian oil," he said, adding that the biggest hurdle was to get banks to agree to handle payments to Iran.
Japan stopped oil imports from Iran in November when the sanctions came into effect. Iranian oil accounted for 5.3 percent of Japan’s total crude imports in 2017. However, waivers were granted to Iran’s biggest oil clients - Japan, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Greece and Turkey - which allow them to import some oil for another 180 days.
