FACTBOX-Iran's crude oil buyers in Europe, Asia

Sept 8 (Reuters) - The United Nations in June passed a
fourth round of sanctions on Iran in reaction to its uranium
enrichment programme. Tougher measures followed from the
European Union and the United States, specifically targeting oil
and gas.

A number of oil companies, trading houses and international
businesses have since stopped transactions with Iran, although
it is difficult to build up a picture of the country's crude
purchases because the information is not officially published.

Iran, OPEC's second-biggest oil producer [OPEC/O], exports
roughly 2 million barrels of oil a day.

European refiners buy at least 238,000 barrels per day (bpd)
from Iran, down from 608,000 bpd in a previous Reuters survey in
2008, while Asian refiners take roughly 1.4 million bpd.

Iranian crude, which tends to have a high sulphur content
and can be difficult to refine, can accumulate in floating
storage in the summer months when demand for it weakens. Traders
say any stockpiling has been exaggerated by the impact of the
sanctions.

On Tuesday, however, an Iranian oil official said Iran's
crude was not being stockpiled in tankers and that some Indian
refineries were specifically designed to consume its Soroush and
Norouz crude, which are particularly hard to refine.

Market sources said Indian refiner Essar had contracted
about 3.2 million barrels per month with Iran. Volumes would
include Iranian Heavy, Forozan, Norouz and Soroush, but the
sources said at the moment it was only buying Forozan and
Norouz.

Following are industry estimates of Iran's export volumes by
customer. Volumes are in thousand barrels per day:

CUSTOMER VOLUME ASIA CUSTOMER VOLUME EUROPE
Zhuhai Zhenrong (China) 240 Tupras (Turkey) 63
Sinopec (China) 200 Cepsa (Spain) 25
MRPL (India) 130 Hellenic (Greece) 60
Nippon Oil (Japan) 120 Repsol (Spain) 80
SK Energy (S. Korea) 120 Petrogal (Portugal) 10
Hyundai Oilbank (S. Korea) 70
Showa Shell (Japan) 120 TOTAL EUROPE 238
Toyota Tsushu (Japan) 50
Essar Oil (India) 50
Cosmo Oil (Japan) 45
Japan Energy (Japan) 75
IOC 30
HPCL (India) 60 Mitsui (Japan) 15
Mitsubishi (Japan) 35 Itochu (Japan) 5
BPCL (India) 5 Kanematsu (Japan) 15
Idemitsu Kosan (Japan) 12 Marubeni (Japan) 10
Essar Oil (India) 100 (3.2 mln bbls/month)
TOTAL ASIA 1,462

(Compiled by Reuters London energy desk, reporting by New
Delhi, Beijing, Singapore, Milan, Madrid, Dubai, Paris and Tokyo
bureaux, editing by Jane Baird)