But the delay was highly unlikely to impact a January decision to enforce a full oil embargo on Iranian crude by July 1 as part of efforts to bring Tehran back to international talks over its contested nuclear drive, they said.

The potential impact on economically troubled EU nations heavily dependent on Iranian oil, Greece, Spain and Italy, as well as on the global oil market -- where oil prices rose on news of the embargo -- was to be reassessed by May 1.

"So far Greece has come back to us saying that for the time being, they seem to have been able to handle and to keep the situation under control," said a senior EU diplomat who asked to remain anonymous.

"But precisely because there was this deadline in April they have asked for the possibility to come back to this issue in May or maybe even in June and this has been accepted by all member states," the source added.

"The whole situation of the oil market is being kept under close review, and if necessary we'll come back to this," he said.

Greece's dependence in particular held up an accord on the embargo as the debt-laden nation relies on Iran for more than a third of its imports and had struck preferential financial terms with Tehran.

Greece initially wanted a transition period of up to a year, and intensive talks took place for weeks to find alternative sources.

A Tuesday visit by Qatari ruler Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to Malta, where he met with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, resulted in the signing of six agreements between the countries covering education, health, employment and the economy.

The talks also paved the way for closer energy ties, which will likely result in a major investment in Enemalta as a strategic partner for state-owned Qatargas, the English-language newspaper Malta Today reported.

Citing senior Maltese and Qatari sources, the publication said a deal is near on establishing a distribution hub for Qatari natural gas along the Delimara Peninsula on the main island's southeastern tip.

The site of the facility would likely be near the heavy fuel oil-burning Delimara power station, which is about to open a $216 million addition and could in the future be converted to burn natural gas, the newspaper said.

The report indicated officials have scouted sites along the Delimara coast that could be used to house bunkering and docking facilities for a gas hub, which would be targeted to customers in Europe and Africa.

The sources said even as Hamad and Gonzi were conducting the state visit, negotiations on the deal were being conducted along the sidelines by Maltese Finance Minister Tonio Fenech and Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada.

The possible investment in coming in the context of a deepening relationship between the countries. The momentum picked up steam during the Libyan crisis, when Qatar praised the island nation for providing assistance to injured civilians.

During the state visit, Gonzi announced his country was opening an embassy in Doha.

"We have always enjoyed good ties with Qatar, which grew even stronger throughout last year when Qatar used Malta as its hub for sending humanitarian aid to Libya during the uprising," Gonzi said.

Malta is also hoping to secure reliable supplies of oil and gas from Libya under its new government.

Fenech met with Libyan Oil and Gas Undersecretary Umar Shakmak this month in hopes of gaining supplies on favorable terms, the English-language Libyan Herald reported.

The newspaper said the pair discussed other ways Libya and Malta could enhance their relationship, including a meeting between Maltese technical experts and specialists from the Libya National Oil Corp.

Malta has no domestic production of energy sources and depends totally on oil imports -- the only EU member state that does so. Oil is the only type of energy used for electricity generation in the country, with the transportation sector dominating its energy consumption.

Malta's electricity generation has been exclusively based on oil since 1995 -- the last year that hard coal was used. Since then, its total generation has been steadily increasing.

At the same time, Malta's economy is in better shape than many of the debt-laden members of the eurozone. The European Commission expects the country's exports to increase by 4 percent this year while employment should be stable at just less than 7 percent, compared to more than 10 percent in the eurozone as a whole.