South Korea's oil imports from Iran more than double: Report

EghtesadOnline: The latest reports and data in South Korea show that the country's oil imports from Iran has risen to more than double in the third three months of the year.

News ID: ۷۷۱۷۷۹

30 November 2016

Imports of Iranian crude oil and condensates reached 78 million barrels in the January-September period, compared to 33.63 million barrels a year earlier, South Korea's news agency 'Yonhap' has reported.

The Iranian oil accounted for 9.7 percent of the country's total oil imports during the cited period, Yonhap added.

Iran had been a major exporter of crude to South Korea, but international sanctions on Tehran for its nuclear program had sharply reduced bilateral trade, the news agency noted.

So far, it added, South Korea has been importing condensates from Qatar and the US, but after the lifting of sanctions on Iran in January 2016, local oil refiners sharply jacked up the imports of the gassy ultralight fossil fuel from Iran, according to IRNA.