US exempts China, Singapore from Iran oil sanction  

美國將中國和新加坡列入伊朗石油制裁豁免名單

美國國務卿希拉里28日宣布，美國將中國和新加坡列入伊朗石油制裁豁免名單。希拉里當日在一份公告中稱，中國和新加坡大幅減少伊朗原油進口，為此她將告之國會，無須對兩國金融機構實施制裁。這項豁免為期半年并可延長。

Washington D.C. (CNS) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Thursday local time that China and Singapore would be exempt from the financial sanctions it will place on Iran oil buyers, which will be valid for half a year and could be extended.

According to a bill President Obama signed in December 2011, U.S. is enforcing sanctions on all foreign institutes buying oil from Iran in order to contain Iran's nuclear weapon development. An exemption can be obtained when the buyer country substantially reduces its imports.

Clinton announced exemptions for the U.K., France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, Poland and the Czech Republic in March, followed by India, Malaysia, Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the Taiwan region on June 11.

The EU ceased its oil imports from Iran in January, and is abolishing all oil import contracts with Iran before July 1. Nor will any EU insurance provide third-party or environment liability insurance services to Iran oil transporters from July 1 onwards.

Iran's daily crude oil exports now have dropped dramatically from 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in 2011 to 1.5 million BOE. Its quarterly actual economic losses amount to almost US$ eight billion, revealed a report released by the International Energy Agency.