Page 29 - TURKRptMay19

Pump prices in the US have already jumped about 25% this year, the fastest rate in three years, Reuters reported on April 23. Crude oil prices, meanwhile, have hit their highest in about six months.
Some analysts expect the national average pump price, currently near $2.85 a gallon, will climb above $3 a gallon for the first time since 2014. Few goods prices aggravate US consumers as much as high gasoline prices.
Iran is estimated to have exported 1.9mn b/d of oil and condensates in March , Tankertrackers.com said on April 17. China, India, Turkey, Greece, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan have six-month waivers granted by Washington allowing them to import a certain level of Iranian crude without incurring US sanctions. However, these waivers run out in May. The oil industry is awaiting a decision from the US State Department on which, if any countries, will be given waiver extensions.
The data from the company put Iranian crude exports at 1.4mn b/d in March while condensates stood at 500,000 b/d. Condensate is a type of ultralight oil favoured by some East Asian refiners in countries including Japan.
2.6 Prospect of US sanctions hitting Turkey grows as senators file bill protesting against detentions
The prospect of Turkey being hit by US sanctions has increased following the introduction by two senators of a bipartisan bill targeting Turkish officials responsible for the detention of US citizens and local consulate staff in the country . The bill, introduced by Republican Senator Roger Wicker and Democrat Ben Cardin, calls on President Donald Trump to urge Turkey to respect fundamental freedoms, saying thousands in the country have become victims of politically-motivated prosecution.
The bill would require the Trump administration to impose sanctions on all senior Turkish officials responsible for the “wrongful” detentions of US citizens and staff. The officials would be barred from travel to the US and any US assets held by them would be frozen. But it would be the symbolic meaning of the sanctions, confirming frosty and fragile relations between Ankara and Washington, which would matter more in that it would weigh on markets.
Ankara and Washington are also at loggerheads over Syria policy and Turkey’s planned purchase of the Russian S-400 advanced missile defence system, seen as a security threat to the world’s most advanced fighter jet, the F-35—although the US has made it clear it will not deliver F-35s to Turkey if it does not cancel the S-400 order.
If Turkey, as it insists it will, goes ahead and purchases the S-400 it would likely incur other US sanctions.
Among the detentions that have concerned US senators is that of Serkan Golge, a dual Turkish-US citizen, who was found guilty of being a member of an armed terrorist organisation earlier this year. He was sentenced to seven years, six months in prison. Three other Turkish citizens who were working at US consulates in Turkey have been under investigation or have been jailed over similar charges. A Turkish court last month ruled that one of those workers, Metin Topuz, a translator and fixer in Istanbul, should remain in jail until the resumption of his trial in June.
29 TURKEY Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com