As the world’s fifth biggest crude importer, South Korea shipped in 1.83 million tons of crude oil from Iran in September which equals to 446.148 barrels per day (bpd). The country’s crude imports have increased by 22.8 percent from nearly 1.5 million tons in the previous year.
South Korea mainly buys an ultra-light oil from Iran, also known as condensate, but the data does not provide further details on the imports.
Iran has continued to expand its oil productions since last year when sanctions were lifted. The country plans to keep its combined exports of crude and condensate at round 2.6 million barrels per day, till the end of the year.
South Koreas crude oil imports from Iran jumped 43.1 percent to 14.03 million tons from January to September or 2017 or 377,059 bpd. The figure was 9.8 million tons over the same period last year, the data showed.
In the first nine months of this year, Korea oil imports rose 3.4 percent to 110.51 million tons or 2.97 bpd, compared with 106.86 million tons during the same period last year.