South Korea’s oil imports from Iran up 83%

EghtesadOnline: The latest market figures that South Korea’s imports of crude from Iran saw a significant increase in October compared to the same period last year, but were nonetheless lower than September by a slight margin.

News ID: ۷۸۰۵۲۰

20 November 2017

Based on a report by Reuters, Iran shipped 1.65 million tonnes of crude oil, or 390,675 barrels per day (bpd), to South Korea in October.  The figure marked an increase of 83 percent compared to the same period last year.  However, it also marked a fall of 9.5 percent compared to September when shipments stood at 1.83 million tonnes, according to PressTV.

The high volume of Iran’s oil exports to South Korea are in line with ongoing efforts by the country to ramp up its oil output since sanctions were lifted last year in a bid to recoup its lost market share, Reuters added.

Over January-October this year, oil shipments from Iran jumped 46.5 percent to about 15.7 million tonnes, or 378,447 bpd, versus 10.72 million tonnes during the same period a year ago, the news agency added quoting customs data.

Overall, the world’s No.5 crude importer’s total imports in October were 12.44 million tonnes, or 2.94 million bpd, up 7.4 percent from 11.59 million tonnes a year earlier, the data showed.

South Korea is also a main importer of ultra-light oil, also known as condensate, from Iran. However, Iran’s exports of the crucial have reportedly slowed down – in what officials previous said would be temporarily.

Saeid Khoshrou, the director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), was previously quoted by news agencies as saying that Iran has reduced its condensate shipments due to a “technical problem” at the South Pars field that has prompted 1-2 months of maintenance.