At least two of Asia's four top buyers of Iranian crude will keep imports flowing as they find ways around an EU ban on insuring tankers carrying the Islamic country's oil.

Asia needs oil to feed growing demand and top consumers are reluctant to entirely halt imports from Iran and depend entirely on top exporter Saudi Arabia, especially given that output from other alternative suppliers such as Libya and Iraq has not stabilized.

Japan has secured a parliament approval that allows the government to provide insurance cover, while China is asking Iran to take on the risk and deliver the crude on their ships. South Korea and India have yet to find a way out. Together, Japan and China have nominated loadings for as many as 620,000 barrels per day of Iranian oil next month, sources said on Wednesday.

In less than two weeks, the four Asian buyers who are Iran's biggest customers will lose access to European insurers that cover 95 percent of the world's tankers for oil spills and collisions.